My Life Has Changed
by PorcelainMannequin
Summary: When an orphan learns about the Transformers, she finds her life is in more danger than she could have ever imagined - will she be able to live through this new ordeal? What will happen if she does?
1. Chapter 1

Whew, finally got on to some writing! Sorry it's short-ish, but I promise future chapters will be longer! :D Enjoy!

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><p>Cold winds blew through the dark streets as Nora Bancroft walked, her old and peeling sneakers kicking up dust as she went; streetlamps flickered feebly, their dull glow attracting several moths; moving a lock of her shoulder length black hair behind her ear lazily, she kept a tight grip on the twenty dollar note in her pocket - she knew she'd be in trouble in the orphanage if she lost it.<p>

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><p>Nora Bancroft, aged seventeen, had lost her beloved parents at the age of just six years old. She missed them dearly - she had so many memories of her family, regardless of how little time they had had together. Her perfect life had ended one day when her mother left for work one morning, leaving Nora with her father. An hour or so after her departure, she had called to ask her husband for help with something or other, work-related. He had left Nora with the babysitter while he helped her. As far as Nora could remember, his last words to his little girl were "You be good for the babysitter, Nora, mummy and daddy will be back soon, ok?" before he'd kissed her forehead and left.<p>

They had never returned. Four hours after her father had left for the office, the babysitter had called Nora downstairs from her bedroom. It was that moment Nora had been informed of the gas leak which had exploded after a worker lit a cigarette. The fire had burned down most of the building and killed four people - two of which were Mr and Mrs Bancroft. That night plans were made for Nora to be sent from her home in Scotland to her Great-uncle George's house, in America.

Unfortunately Nora only spent a year with him as he too died, this time of a heart attack from which he did not recover. Nora's last family member was gone - she was alone in the world.

Nobody saw any point in her returning to Scotland, so she stayed in a crummy orphanage - its walls, once a dull orange color, had turned an ugly, wrinkly green due to the roof leaking when it rained. Not only that, but this orphanage had little money. Most of it was spent on the worker's alcohol and drug addictions, and what little they didn't use was spent on cheap food for the orphans. The other children were all foul-mouthed, vulgar little twits, and no matter how much Nora tried to stay out of their way they always found ways to make her life worse.

She hoped and hoped someone would adopt her, get her out of this hellhole, but no one wanted her. Plenty of people came for the others and took them away(though it was probably pity. No one would leave a child younger than Nora here)with them, but never Nora. They said her attitude was _"_rancid as milk and twice as thick".

Currently, she was on her way to buy milk and bread. She hadn't wanted to, knowing it was too late and the shops would be shut, but they knew she lied; the one she was heading to now was open almost 24/7. She had sighed, yanked her hair out of the fist of a child who had caught her as she passed, and left.

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><p>Six men stood outside the small convenience store. Nora didn't like the look of them at all. Four were smoking and the other two were either swaying on their feet, clutching bottles of drink, or eyeing her as she passed - some of them all three. Although Nora knew she could probably hold her own against one, there was no chance in hell she'd manage even two. Holding her head up to avoid making eye contact, she ignored the muttering that rose up and walked right into the store.<p>

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><p>I know I posted this already, but this is an update :D I made it sightly longer and detailed! Hope you like! Drop a review and see you on my next update guys (and gals I guess :P)<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This will be the second chapter of my first story, and I did my best! In this story the Autobots all have holoforms, and if you don't like it tell me and I might change it to just their alt forms. Thanks, and enjoy! :D

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><p>As Nora stepped out of the shop(clutching the grocery bag tight in her fist), she noticed that some of the men who had been standing out front had disappeared; only two remained of the six. Of these two were a man who looked to be around fifty and another one who could have been this first man's son. They watched Nora as she walked the way she'd come, seeming uninterested - until they began following her. When she realized this, the girl's heart thumped against her ribs in a sort of panicked rhythm and she walked as fast as she could without running.<p>

There was a small cafe on the street corner; it was closed at this time of night, windows reflecting her flickering face and showing her just how close the men behind her were getting; she made only this far before a sweaty hand clamped around her bare arm just above the elbow.

"Get off of me!" she immediately shouted, trying to tug her arm from the creep's grasp; it was the old one, and he was grinning as he pulled Nora closer. She could smell the tobacco on his breath as the younger one caught up; he too was grinning as he stared at her. "Get off, creep!"

"Now don't be like that," the old one chuckled, breathing right into Nora's face, "All we want to do is talk!" Nora's attempts to pry her arm away were appearing to be in vain and her arm was beginning to throb. This time the young one stepped up, still grinning stupidly.

"Ab-absolutely..." his speech was slurred - he was clearly drunk, and now she was looking, the girl could see they both were swaying on their feet - as he reached for her. "Let go of me!" she yelled as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear her and help her, but at this time it could have been in vain. Her arm was still stuck in his vice-like grip, nails digging into her arm painfully. Nora continued trying to punch the older one in the chest, but eventually he grabbed her free arm with an impatient growl. Nora was now stuck.

Nora was not just slightly frightened, she was also furious. Furious that she couldn't get away, furious that this was happening to her - hadn't she been through enough in life, what with losing her parents, her family?

She didn't realize somebody had joined them. She heard him, though she couldn't see him. "Didn't ya hear her? Let go." It wasn't a voice she recognized, though it appeared to be trying to help her so she wasn't complaining! Her back was turned to him so she just listened. The old guy sneered at him, glancing at his younger accomplice.

"What if we want to keep her?" Nora, glaring as best she could at the old man, had never been more tempted to bite a person as she was then. A_rrogant, foolish little_ - just as she considered following through with her ambitions, eyeing the pulsing vein in his neck and wondering why she was coming up with vampire jokes at a time like this, she was interrupted by more speech from the guy saving her.

"Well in that case, I guess we're not going to get on as well as I thought!" A loud **_crack_** echoed through the air and suddenly Nora was free. Her captor was kneeling on the quickly-staining-red concrete, hands clamped over his gushing nose as he screamed in agony. The other looked shocked. Before he coud say anything, the girl's savior spoke directly to him. "I'd like to insult you as well but apparently nature already did," he said, "You wanna try anything? Or do you somehow like your face the way it is?" he added, and the guy heaved his mate off the ground and scarpered. Nora could see him now - he was taller than her and had dark red hair; his long sleeved shirt(also red)was partly covered by a loose black short sleeved jacket. He wore light jeans and a belt. Nora approached him warily. The grocery bag had been dropped somewhere along the way; the bread was squashed and the milk was flowing down a drain in rivulets. "Are you alright? Where are your parents? Won't they be worried?" he asked, frowning at her. Nora looked down, focusing on a pebble. "I'm fine, thanks to you. My parent won't be worried, trust me. They died a long time ago." Nora wanted to slap that look of pity off his face; instead she baed her fists to resist the temptation and listened to his words. "Sorry, I didn't realize...here, let me give ya a ride back to wherever you're staying." Minutes later they arrived at a shiny red Lamborghini(which Nora marveled at for a minute before actually getting in)and it was warm inside.

Ten minutes into the drive(of which Nora explained where the orphanage was to an awkward looking driver), the radio spoke. "For the love of Primus, where _are_ you? You have been out for _six hours_, Sunstreaker is beginning to worry and trying not to show it and your patrol ended two hours ago! Get your aft back here _asap_!" This new voice sounded irritated, and as he yelled Nora's savior - it occurred to her she hadn't asked his name or vice versa - had paled and kept glancing at her. When he made no move to explain, merely kept driving, Nora decided to prompt him. "What's a Primus and a Sunstreaker?"

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><p>AN: Wow, this was longer than it was meant to be! 0.o I couldn't help adding bits on here and there you see :3 Let me know what you think, please leave a review and see you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

There might be some words here which are missing letters, but just pretend they're there - I'm using a borrowed laptop until I get my own soon :P Future chapters will be longer as the plot will move along a bit. Hope you guys enjoy!

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><p>Nora couldn't believe this. It couldn't be happening; it was <em>impossible<em>; it was _surreal_; and yet here she was, caught up in the middle of it all now. The moment the girl had sat herself down in a certain shiny red Lamborghini, her fate had irrevocably changed. She might not have known it then, and she might not know it for months to come, but soon enough she would discover just how it had changed; just what she had gotten herself into.

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><p>"So...let me get this straight..." Nora began, her mind trying to smooth everything out into understanding, with some difficulty. After the groceries had been replaced as quickly as possible(using some human money Sides' had had) the man whom had saved Nora had explained everything. "Your name is Sideswipe. You are of an alien race called 'Cybertronians' and you are part of a team called the Autobots. That dude on the radio was Ratchet; Sunstreaker is your twin brother, and Primus is your Creator-God." she finished, glancing at the empty passenger's seat beside her. Sideswipe had only moments ago proved he wasn't human by allowing his holoform(a projection of a human designed for the Autobot)to fizzle out like a candle; regardless of how much of a shock Nora had gotten(though she'd never admit it)to avoid suspicion from the local police, she had slid into the driver's seat, hands placed loosely on the steering wheel. Only to have him drive through a red light minutes later. "Aren't we supposed to be drawing attention <em>away<em> from ourselves?"

"Eh, one light ain't gonna hurt. You seem awfully calm about all this, don't ya? You just learned about an alien race and you seem...bored." Nora shrugged. "I've always known we humans weren't the only ones out there. Isn't that much of a shock to me. I mean, I'm a little nervous about actually meeting them but besides that..." she shrugged.

Sideswipe grunted and drove on, in the process nearly flattening a stop sign(Nora just ignored it this time, knowing already that he wouldn't care) and driving so fast he fishtailed on the curb for a second. "We're headed to the Autobot HQ. You're in for surprises, maybe a shock, I dunno. It's a long way, so maybe you'd better get some sleep or something...whatever you humans need to do to survive...but don't drool on my interior!" he warned, re-materializing his holoform as Nora curled up in the passenger seat - suddenly feeling very tired and very nervous. It wasn't every day you had to meet 50ft, alien robots.

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><p>This was the shortest chapter ever and I'm sorry ;_; Thanks for reading, let me know what you think. Please leave a review! Also if you have any ideas on where I should take this I'm open to suggestions. See you next chapter!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Nora was awoken hours later by Sideswipe calling her repeatedly, getting louder each time she didn't respond. Groaning, she sat up as she remembered the events of the previous night; the aberration she was going through. An aching pain grew in her lower back and shoulderblades - not surprising considering she'd slept curled up in a car seat - and bright sunlight streaming through Sideswipe's windows temporarily blinded her; Sideswipe gave an impatient huff.

"Primus, human, ya took your time!" he grumbled, still driving insanely, "We're nearly there and I don't know how I'm supposed to explain ya to the others. I don't even know your name or your age!" he added. Nora rolled her eyes and stretched, frowning at the slowly intensifying pain in her back. "It's Nora, and I'm seventeen..." she yawned, ignoring the 'Bot's impatient huff. What she could not ignore, however, was the sudden swerve he made round a corner; he almost hit a wooden fence surrounding about twenty grazing Holstein cows and charred most of the grass around it. Nora, who had not really reacted to the sudden increase and decrease of speed besides a a tighter grip on the wheel and a veer to the left, sighed and asked, "How old are you guys?"

"You mean the Autobots or Cybertronians? Because either way, we've both been around for billions of years, _way _before this mudball was even a thing," Sideswipe explained, hurdling over a fallen log in the middle of the road. They were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, yet civilization wasn't too far away; _they must be pretty well hidden, _Nora thought. She kept looking out the window and trying to imagine what Sideswipe looked like in his robot form, so she missed half of what he'd said and had to pretend she'd heard him. Which of course, he was having none of.

"Were ya even listening?" he grumbled, "Seriously, _squirrels_ must have a larger attention span than you!" he grumbled, and probably would have been glaring at the girl if he could. Instead, he settled once more for turning another sharp corner faster than was necessary.

However, Nora wasn't fazed that time; she was a little indignant about the squirrel thing, but besides that she was used to Sideswipe's ways(this included his tendencies to go _WAY _over the speed limit, ignore lights and stop signs and not slow down at turns; if anything, he sped up). "Excuse me, but I can pay perfect attention when I focus!" she retorted, watching the speedometer drift steadily on the number '80' - he was going 80mph! No wonder she couldn't see out the window anymore!

"Nora!" Sideswipe snapped, bouncing the seat in irritation to bring Nora out of her thoughts. Well, her head hitting his roof certainly made her focus. "What did I _just_ say?!" he added, waiting as she rubbed her head, glaring at the dashboard. Nora felt her face heat up - in truth, she hadn't heard a word he'd said. "Uh...you said..." Nora fought to remember. "...I have no idea. Sorry." To be fair, she was still rather distracted by the ache in her back. What was wrong with it, she wasn't sure, but she decided to ignore it for now.

Sideswipe groaned. "Whatever. I said when we get there, my bro Sunstreaker is probably gonna be the only one to not want to come near ya...at all...until he trusts ya. He's obsessed with his paint job, looking his best and all that sag. He is a_ vain _fragger." he laughed suddenly, and stopped. "We're here." he sounded uneasy. Nora looked ahead; all she could see was an old abandoned airplane warehouse, but it was _huge; _it looked as though it could house the orphanage twice! As she gaped at the sheer size of it, she felt a nervousness growing in her stomach. She knew this wasn't just an abandoned building, and that it was really where the Autobots awaited for Sideswipe(they did not yet know she was with him). "So, are you gonna get out so I can transform or would you prefer to look like crunchy peanut butter?" He said, chuckling at the face Nora made as she clambered out. She was eager to see a Cybertronian!

Sideswipe made sure the girl was far enough away that she wasn't going to be hurt in any way before beginning. Nora had never seen anything like this in her entire life. Bits of him were folding, sifting, moving to other places; his wheels shifted to behind his newly formed legs; his hood became the chest, headlights moving upwards to the corners; like nothing she had ever seen.

"So, ready for the others?"

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><p>AN: I suck at writing the transformation part X3 This chapter might be the last for a few days until I get back from this event thing I'm going to, but I'll update asap when I return! Please leave a review, there are lots of you out there and I know you have the time! ;D See you next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 already, pretty darn proud X3 Someone asked me whether my OC Nora is going to end up with Sideswipe in the romantic sense, and after reading through my chapters I realize it _does _look like I'm getting this to happen 0.0' I assure you, it won't happen :P I don't write romance-y stuff. They'll probably just be great friends :3 Also, there is mention of rape in here(just the word once, but just in case). Enjoy!

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><p>Her head was bowed low, black hair casting a curtain around her Tiffany-blue eyes which hid her face from the view of others. Her foot tapped on the ground nervously, over and over; her eyes lingered on the cold concrete ground, following cracks yet never straying too far; in all senses, she looked calm enough, at-ease, when really her heart was pounding a quick rhythm against her ribs and her fingers twitched in jittery anticipation of what she knew was to come. As she sat there, waiting, Sideswipe placed his holoform's hand on her shoulder in encouragement. It caused Nora to slowly raise her head to face him as she smiled, feeling like it wouldn't be so bad if her new friend was here with her, and after all - she <em>was <em>very eager to meet the other Cybertronians!

Suddenly the doors in front of them opened and a man wearing a green camouflage outfit and polished black boots marched towards them. This man had cropped brown hair and the stubbly beginnings of a beard; the antenna of a handheld radio poked out of a pouch on his chest and many other pockets contained many other hidden things. To Nora's slight shock(though really she should have expected it)there was a handgun secured in a hip-holster. He looked very bulky in general though Nora knew he was most likely less so with all the gear off.

As the army man came closer, smiling up at the now-transformed Sideswipe(whom had subtly stepped to the left so that Nora would not be seen yet)Nora tried not to stare at the gun, fearing he would see her, somehow take it as hostility or something and shoot her. She did, however, try to peer through the door he had come through, but all she caught on about was that it was a very large room, probably taking up 1/4 of the warehouse. When it swung shut with a draught of cool air, she quickly ducked behind Sides' leg again, hoping she had not been seen. She heard them talking.

"Autobot Sideswipe, nice to see you back safely for once. Break anything lately?"

" _That must have been Mr Handgun_, Nora thought, almost revealing herself by chuckling at the nickname(which she would most definitely be calling him later). Sideswipe's reply made him sound like a angry toddler.

"Come on, Lennox! When are ya gonna let that go? I came back one time - _one time_! - like that! If it hadn't been for the stupid railing on the cliff being so slagging weak, I wouldn't have fallen off the edge!" His foot actually stamped in frustration. "I swear to _fraggin_' Primus, _no one_ seems to be able to let that go..." he grumbled, missing Lennox's look of amusement. Lennox simply laughed.

"You mean if you hadn't almost been going fast enough to break the sound barrier..."

Nora, on the other hand, raised a brow. _Billions of years old my ass..._ she thought, chuckling again. Suddenly the image of Sideswipe's holoform having a tantrum came into her mind and she snorted, alerting Lennox to her presence.

"Who is that?" he asked, noticing Sideswipe's wince as he lay his hand loosely on the handgun. The robot looked down at the girl and rolled his blue optics.

"Nice goin', fragtard..." Nora frowned at him, but didn't say anything. "Hey, it's your fault! Don't look at me like _I've _done something wrong!" he defended himself, mouth twitching before looking at Lennox guiltily. "Heh...surprise!"

Lennox lowered his guard and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sideswipe...humans. They are not pets. You can't just pick them up off the streets and keep them - she needs to go home." Before Sideswipe could say anything - or Nora for that matter, because dammit she wanted to _stay_ - he sighed. "For the love of - scratch that, she _can't _go home, because she knows about you." A pause. "Does she know about _all_ of you?" he sounded hopeful. Grinning awkwardly, Sideswipe nodded his head. "Aw that's just great!" Lennox muttered sarcastically, glaring at him. "We can't just keep humans, Sideswipe, we've already got Sam coming back from Spain in a week-"

"If I may interject..." Nora said, affronted somewhat as she strolled up to the man, "My name is Nora. I am seventeen, and I have been an orphan since I was six. Therefore, I don't technically have a home to go to." she finished, staring up at Sideswipe - who was fighting back a grin at her clear defiance of the Major - before looking into the face of Lennox. "Also..." she added, "Sides' here saved me from a bunch of weirdos who were trying to rape me. Going to tell him he shouldn't have done that, smartass?" At that last remark, Sideswipe snorted and outright laughed at Lennox's disgruntled face. "Well, we'll see what Optimus says." he said, reluctantly leading them down a hallway. "He's in a meeting right now, but he'll be done any minute."

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><p>"You probably shouldn't have called him a smartass, squirrel-brain." Sideswipe remarked, chuckling as they waited outside the meeting room; the robot was standing stationary against a wall with Nora sitting in his palm to avoid getting in the way of the men down below. The girl shrugged, instantly reincarnating the flaring pain in her back; she barely managed to suppress her moan of pain, but the face she made as she flexed her back tipped off Sideswipe. He stared down at her, optics narrowing suspiciously as she gave him a forced smile. He didn't say anything, but Nora tried to keep a low profile anyway - she was not the kind of person to complain about a little pain. "He probably shouldn't have irked me." she grinned, receiving one in return from her friend as he looked up again. She was now wondering who this 'Sam' was and what he was like.<p>

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><p>"When you see Optimus - please don't freak out or faint or anything," Lennox warned, "He's a lot bigger than Sideswipe...he's the tallest Autobot, really, but he won't hurt you." he added, as Nora's eyes drifted upwards to see what 'taller than Sideswipe' must look like; her eyes widened.<p>

"Woah...it's gonna be like talking to a redwood tree!" she grinned, causing Sideswipe to look down at her questioningly. She grinned at him and he rolled his eyes jokingly.

"Uh, yeah, I guess it will be! Anyway, they're waiting and I'm not coming in with you. Sideswipe can explain everything." With that, Lennox turned and walked off. Sideswipe sighed, curling his fingers so that Nora wouldn't fall out. "Uh...they?" she questioned, looking more excited than a girl about to meet giant alien robots probably should, "I thought we were meeting one?"

"Nah, ya gotta meet them all, easier that way..." he said, before he walked through the doors. At first Nora was confused; there was nothing in this room except for six vehicles. Seconds later, it clicked in her head and she mentally slapped herself. Cars = transformers in this place, she ought to have known. These were some good cars, too - a yellow 2007 SS Camaro with two identical stripes down the middle of the hood; a black GMC Topkick; a blue Peterbilt truck with red flames; a dark green Hummer with what looked like a heart monitor pulse running along both sides(an ambulance?); a silver Pontiac Solstice and a white Ford Mustang with red decals. They all looked so new and so clean. Nora had always been interested in cars, though she'd never been able to go out of her way to see them. Sideswipe laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Optimus Prime, sir," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to another, "I have brought this human, Nora Bancroft, to base because she inadvertently discovered us when I helped her in a time of need," Nora raised her eyebrows at him; she'd never heard him speak so officially. It was unlike him. "The girl lost her creators at a young age, she has nowhere else ta go." Nora ducked her head as he continued. "I hope, sir, that you can allow her to stay on base with us since she is aware of us and our ways."

There was a silence; it lasted about a minute before the Semi truck started shifting and rearranging itself, just like Sideswipe had nearly an hour ago now. When this was completed, a large, red and blue robot stood before them, eyes narrowed at Nora as though assessing her. Lennox had been right - geez, this guy was huge! He knelt so he was no longer towering over her, was almost eye-level with Nora(whilst she was in Sides' palm, of course). His voice was deep and baritone, a fitting voice for a leader.

"Nora," he boomed, blinking his optics at her, "My name is Optimus Prime. I assume Sideswipe has told you about what we are, where we are from?" Nora nodded, hair falling in front of her face again; she moved it with one hand as the Autobot leader continued. "You are an orphan, and you have nowhere you can call home. Is this correct?" Again, she nodded. It wasn't that she was scared, she just thought not interrupting Optimus' flow of speech was important right now. "I see," he said, looking down at the floor in thought. "Nora Bancroft...you may live at this base, so long as I know you will not endanger the lives of my Autobots or perform any acts of malicious behavior to us. This, and no leaving base without a guardian Autobot, in case of Decepticon attack. Are these terms acceptable to you?" Nora nodded for the third time, but Optimus was having none of this 'no-talking' thing. He looked right at her and she understood.

"Optimus Prime - uh, sir - I understand what you're asking of me, and I'll do my best to keep to your terms." she said, looking up at him. He nodded in approval and gave her a smile before straightening up. "It is time you met the rest of us, then."

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><p>A.N: Because this was so long, the introductions of the other Autobots will come in next chapter - right away, basically just like an immediate continuation of this one. Also Sam Witwicky will make an appearance soon, cos he's cool X3 Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review and see you next chapter! :D<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

I was going to postpone this, but I've got another story popping into my head and once I've done the next few chapters I can probably start on that one before the plot bunnies eat me 0.0 Enjoy! :D

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><p>Nora was having trouble focusing. This was not because she was meeting a mass of alien robots; it was due to the persistent pain in her back which she had, at first, assumed was due to the way she'd slept in Sideswipe's car mode earlier. As she watched Optimus lead them to the other vehicles waiting lined up on the opposite wall, she kept arching her back to try and alleviate the ache - which was earning some more suspicious stares from the Lamborghini carrying her. Optimus stopped, almost causing Sides' to bang into his back and near enough drop Nora. The floor lurched at her and she grabbed a tighter hold of Sideswipe's hand and glared up at him. "Why do you keep staring at me?" she hissed, earning an irritated eye roll.<p>

"You're hiding something, that's why," he hissed back, ignoring the exasperated stare they were receiving from the Autobot leader. "The sooner you tell me what it is the sooner I'll stop starin' at ya!" Nora frowned. They were really just whisper-yelling now. "I haven't _got _anything to hide, dumbass!" They faced each other head on and thus began their staring match - until Optimus cleared his throat loudly.

"If the two of you are finished acting like sparklings fighting over energon, shall we continue?" he said, frowning in aggravation as he turned to the cars lined up against the wall. Nora's face turned bright red and Sideswipe suddenly found the floor very interesting, but soon they looked at each other and burst into quiet, half-suppressed snickers.

What an odd relationship they had already. Arguing one moment, trying to quieten their laughter the next. Optimus shook his head and turned round once more. "Autobots," he began, "Transform." They all looked almost exactly the same as Sides' and Optimus had; places folding and shifting, hoods becoming chests and whatnot. When they were all standing in a line, Optimus walked to the end of the line - to the one which had previously been the Camaro. "My scout, Bumblebee." he explained. Nora didn't expect him to wave and play the ninth line from Rolling Stones - 'Sympathy for the Devil' from his radio.

"Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name!" he gestured to his paintjob as he said this, which made Nora realize why he was called Bumblebee and she grinned at him, acknowledging the pun. Optimus moved along one 'Bot. "This," he said, "is my Weapons Specialist, Ironhide." Before Nora could even blink, Ironhide was up in her face, peering at her.

"Hmm...are you sure she can be trusted, Prime? I am unsure..." he backed off only when Optimus placed a solacing hand on his shoulder with a nod. "I'll be watching you, runt." Nora looked at him, an indignant look on her pale face. She blinked at him before speaking.

"_Runt_? What kind of nickname is that?" she scrunched up her face, as though in thought. "Oh! I know, I'll give you a nickname too - what's up, Ironass?" Sideswipe and Bumblebee snorted, casting amused looks at the human(whose lips were twitching despite the fact one angry Weapons Specialist was standing at full height, growling at her); she watched as he stepped back so Optimus could introduce the next 'Bot. "This is Wheeljack, our...inventor." Nora was surprised to hear a note of reluctance in his voice as he let Wheeljack step forward._  
><em>

"Hello, new human!" he practically yelled at her in excitement as he nodded to the left of him, at a closed door. "My lab is that way and if you ever want to come visit, maybe help with experiments-" he was cut off by a loud horn blaring from the green robot(who was subtly shaking his head at him and frowning as he said "No human experiments. Remeber last time?") Wheeljack scowled and stepped back into line, giving Nora a small smile anyway. Nora shook her head; she was obviously not allowed into the big robot lab. Which of course meant she was totally going later.

"My First Lieutenant Jazz." This was the smaller, silver robot and when he stepped up to meet 'n' greet, he grinned at Nora. "S'up girl?" he had a surprisingly deep voice - almost as deep as Optimus - as he reached out a claw for her to shake. Carefully, the girl did so and said, "You're kind of short, huh? Are you the youngest?" She didn't expect Jazz's face to turn sour and for him to step back silently. Feeling she had offended him, she looked up at Sides'. All she got was a shrug and a muttered, "Bee's the youngest. Jazz just doesn't like people acknowledging the fact he's shorter than the rest of us. OW! What the slag?!" he glared up(or down, really)at Jazz as the silver mech fought back a grin. Apparently, he had shot him. In the head. With a plasma cannon, no less. Before they could rage, Optimus quickly moved on.

"Ratchet...my CMO and a good friend of mine." Ratchet just nodded at Nora and went back to fiddling with something emitting sparks in his hand.

"Well that's polite. Nice to meet you too, guy." Nora commented, receiving a short glare from the medic.

"These are my Autobots...my friends...my family. One of them is not here, though his patrol ended about thirty minutes ago, so he should be back any minute now..." Sure enough, an annoyingly loud shout of "Bro! You're back! Sweet!" reached their ears and as Sideswipe turned, a shiny yellow blur crashed into him, sending him sprawling - and sending Nora flying out of his hand.

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><p>The first thing Nora felt was air; nothing below her feet, nothing above her head - she was in the air after that ass tackled Sideswipe and now she was falling, waiting for the impact which had to come. Unless someone caught her - which was highly unlikely - then pain was waiting for her, lurking in the shadows, awaiting its chance to engulf her like fire. And then she felt herself falling, like it was in slow motion, and the impact was on its way; sure enough, seconds later and-<p>

**THUD-CRACK**

Silence. Then the pain hit her whole back in waves and she started breathing heavily and letting out loud groans of agony. She wasn't sure about the extent of her injury, just that she had never felt physical pain like this in her life. When it became apparent that no one was touching her or helping her, she couldn't hold it any more and she just screamed in blinding pain for at least three slow seconds; this was much worse than what she'd felt in Sideswipe's car mode. Suddenly she felt fingers trying to pick her up and she screamed again, though this time it was words. "No! No, don't touch me, it hurts! Oh, God, I need help, I can't breathe!" it was true - the pain was only intensifying and every breath she took worsened it.

What was odd was that for a few more minutes she could only hear herself and feel her pain - she knew she was lying on the concrete(which probably explained the damage)but she couldn't feel it. Her back was completely numb with pain, and it was ice-cold. Nora didn't want this any more, she wanted the pain to stop.

And then she could hear them. She recognized Ratchet's voice yelling at someone not to touch her, to leave her there, and another voice shouting about idiots(she didn't know what exactly; she just knew it had many repeats of the word fragger in there). "Nora." Ratchet was talking to her, trying to calm her. "Nora. I know you can hear me so I'll say this: I know it's going to hurt, but I have to turn you over-" he was interrupted by the girl's pleading of many no's and don't's, but he looked right into her open eyes and said, louder, "I know it will hurt, but it will take pressure off of your spine and you'll feel a little better, I promise." Forced to ignore her, he gently scooped her up with both hands as slowly as possible and lowered her to the floor on her front. He had been correct, and she felt instantly better, though she was still in a lot of pain. Something sharp pierced her and she gasped as a cold liquid seeped into her.

She fell asleep instantly, and the anesthetic freed her from her agony. For now, at least.

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><p>AN: Wow, this turned kind of dark really fast. Well, the next one will be better, hopefully. It was necessary for the next part :3 I still need to think of the chapter first X3 But it will get better! Please leave a review and see you next chapter! :D


	7. Chapter 7

This idea had been in my head for a while and finally getting it typed out feels great :D Enjoy

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><p>Something was not right; Nora knew it was wrong the second she opened her eyes and saw she was lying on her front on a charred, ash smeared carpet. It was dark, dimly lit; the air felt dry and smelled like coal and dust; the girl climbed to her feet, looking around her warily. Fire was crackling a few feet away from her, slowly devouring the oxygen and the surrounding building. This place looked familiar. Nora knew she had seen it before, yet the answer danced away from her, avoiding capture and refusing to reveal itself.<p>

Nora turned in a full circle, taking everything in. Slabs of concrete and slats of wood littered the floor, paint peeled from the walls and the roof looked like it could cave in any second. As she walked, a hunk of black wood fell, narrowly missing her head. "Damn..." Her lungs burned from the little amount of smoke the flame was emitting as she coughed, listening for anything besides the fire. "Where the hell am I?" she muttered, flicking a piece of ash from her shoulder. Finding nothing in this room but a splintered table and the remains of a chair, she stepped carefully into the next. This room was much bigger and housed a long rectangular table, much like the ones they held in offices or meetings.

Offices. Fire. Realization hit Nora and a wave of nausea overcame her as her brain connected the dots. This was the office where her mother had worked; the place her father had gone to help out; the place where Nora's life was taken from her by the cold, cruel hands of fate. Even as she came to this revelation, she refused to accept it. She thought about turning around and getting the hell out of there, but a low, croaky voice stopped her before she could. "Nora..." the name was drawn-out and came from somewhere to her left, in the corner of the room. What the girl saw made her eyes widen and she knew this would haunt her forever. There, in the corner, lay the recognizable scorched body of her father.

He reached out to her, almost pleadingly, fingers blackened, skin red raw. The smell of burning flesh reached Nora's nose and she retched, reeling backwards in shock - only to step on something soft behind her. She whirled round, eyes darting about until she saw it. On the floor in front of her lay the twitching body of her mother. Her hair, once elbow-length and shiny blonde, was now reduced to wisps on her blistering scalp. Her mother, too, reached out, but before Nora could move out of reach her father's hand had closed tight around her ankle. Yelling out in fear, Nora tried to scramble backwards but only managed to trip over. "Please! Let go!" she shouted, kicking her leg to try and loosen the grip her father had on her, "Let go!" Her mother was crawling closer and closer, breaths coming in rattles and wheezes; they were so close, and Nora could recognize what features were left of her beloved parents. A terrible grief washed over her; tears pricked her eyes as the fear paralyzed her, waiting for her death, and as they spilled over she screamed, this endless torment causing her to tremble violently.

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><p>Nora sat up with a gasp, the events of her worst nightmare still fresh in her mind. Her forehead was soaked and her clothes damp with sweat; she was hyperventilating as the tears flowed down her cheeks and into her mouth; she wiped her forehead with her arm and as it came away wet, she decided she had to move. Sweltering heat had engulfed her body and after that dream, she'd had enough of it for one day.<p>

To her confusion, she was in a bed covered in a blanket; she looked at her surroundings, noticing she was in one of the rooms of the Autobot Base. There were rows of berths in this room, and she was looking down with a bird's eye view due to her being on a small raised platform of some kind. There were steps leading up to it for the humans' medical care.

So she threw off the blanket covering most of her lower body and stood, legs shaky, only to nearly collapse to the polished floor from lack of energy. She groaned as she furiously wiped at the tears still coming heavily and took several deep breaths. Sitting on the bed helped, and when the tears were gone only the sweat remained. _I guess I should call Ratchet...ask him if there's a shower in here, _Nora thought, grimacing. "Uh...Ratchet? You in here?" silence greeted for for a minute before the CMO walked out from an adjoining room.

"Ah, you're awake. How is your back feeling?" He studied her carefully, no doubt scanning her to make sure she was well. Nora had forgotten about the previous day until now, but to her astonishment the pain was no longer there. She raised her hands and felt along where it _had _been - and found nothing but smooth skin(and sticky sweat, ew). She looked up at Ratchet and forced a smile.

"It feels great, thanks!" she gave him a thumbs up, "What happened to me, by the way? You know, apart from the intense pain." Ratchet suddenly looked miffed and a mid sense of foreboding filled the room.

"After that _fragger, _Sunstreaker, knocked Sideswipe down and you fell, I injected you with an anesthetic. You had been out for at most four hours and you injured your thoracic vertebrae and a portion of your lumbar vertebrae, which I easily fixed of course. Now," he continued, before Nora could even open her mouth, "You're a human, so I'm guessing you'll want to cleanse yourself. There are washing facilities to hep you with that and Major Lennox will have a change of clothes for you. Now go! I have a certain yellow twin to deal with..."he growled, stalking off.

"Wow, Sunstreaker better be good at running..." she muttered, before setting off to find Lennox.

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><p>"Alright, once you're done showering just wear these. You know where to go to get back to the Autobots, right?" Lennox handed her a pair of slightly worn-out aqua jeans, a loose-fitting dark blue shirt and a pair of socks. Nora nodded at him before inspecting the clothes.<p>

"Where did you get these?" she asked, considering Ratchet had said she'd only been out for about three hours and the nearest store was almost five hours away. Lennox looked sheepish as he rubbed his neck.

"Uh, they're some old clothes of my wife's. They're pretty old, as you can see, so do what you want with 'em. I've given you a belt just in case they're too loose or anything." At that moment, Nora's stomach chose then to make a loud grumbling noise as Lennox looked at her. "When was the last time you ate?" Nora shrugged, not meeting his eyes in embarrassment.

"A week ago, give or take a few..." she grinned awkwardly as he nodded. "I'll eat later, I swear." Lennox just nodded as he began walking away, leaving her to her shower. "I'll make sure you do!" he called back. The girl turned to walk into the bathroom and almost had a heart attack when there in front of her stood a man wearing a yellow shirt and black jeans. His blonde hair was ruffled, yet still suited him. Glancing around to see where he'd come from, Nora coughed. "Can I help you?" the man - who actually looked around her age, if a coupe years older - smiled at her and gestured to her back. "What, my back? How did you even know-" it clicked in her head and she stared before breaking into a grin. "Bumblebee! Holy cow, you have one too?" Bee nodded and impatiently gestured once again at her back. "Oh, that? I'm fine!"

Bee grinned back, satisfied, jerking a thumb behind him and waving. Nora understood and waved back. When he was gone she walked into the bathroom and when the shower was running hot, she allowed the steam to fill the room; climbing in was heaven; as the warmth ran down her hair and body, the shower water began to mix with her tears as she once again sobbed about her nightmare and in the memory of her parents in private.

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><p>Another chapter for you all! Yay verily! :D Please leave a review and thank you for reading!<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

This is a continue of last chapter - almost straightaway, after Nora gets out of the shower. Also stuff written in **bold **is Bumblebee's radio talk(there may not be a source, but still :3) Enjoy!

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><p>Nora inspected herself in the mirror, making sure the clothes Lennox had given her both fitted and suited her. The shirt was a little big on her lengthwise, reaching to her thighs, and it wasn't really something she'd choose to wear, but beggars can't be choosers. Plus, she preferred loose to tight anyway. Everything else was fine, but she planned on shortening the jeans to make them into three-quarter lengths; she needed the leather belt after all, as they kept threatening to slip past her waist, so after slipping it on and buckling it, she stepped out of the bathroom in search of a knife or a pair of scissors. Men dressed similar to Major Lennox walked past her in both directions, casting her curious glances every now and then. She paid them no heed; she was used to being ignored anyway.<p>

Halfway to the largest room(Lennox had told her on the way to the bathrooms that it was called a Rec Room, or Recreational Room for short)Nora met Optimus, who looked down at her, knelt and smiled. He wondered why the girl had not dried her hair after cleansing herself; now it simply hung limp, looking rather bedraggled and much darker than it really was. When he voiced his curiosity she took a strand of it in her fingers, seeming to inspect it for a moment as she ignored the trickle of water running down her wrist. "I dunno, Optimus, I just didn't take the time to dry it." she shrugged. That was another thing Optimus found odd and slightly intriguing - her unique accent. He had been told she was from a place called Scotland, which he'd never heard of until today. He had looked up Scotland and had been amazed at the beauty of the land yet saddened at the tale of one who came from such a land. His thoughts were interrupted by a hand waving in front of his optics. He realized he had been staring at the girl as he thought, making her uncomfortable under his stare.

"Uh, have I done something wrong sir? You were sorta out o' it there...no that I'm hurrying you along..."she mumbled, seeing Optimus chuckle and shift, preparing to stand. "I apologize, young one...I was merely lost in thought." he watched her roughly tuck some hair away as she shuffled on the spot.

"Oh yeah, that happens to me sometimes. Quite a lot actually." she explained as he nodded with another chuckle. He rose to his full height, careful not to step on any humans - including the girl herself.

"Well then I suppose we had better go our separate ways for now. I will see you at a later time, Eleanora." as he walked away, Nora stood for a moment, a little surprised. "Eleanora? How did he even find out-ah, forget it, I don't really care. I'm tired." She noticed a soldier standing staring at her in bewilderment, obviously wondering why she was talking to herself. Smiling awkwardly, she put her hand to her ear and tried to pretend she had a bluetooth or something, muttering words into it as though responding to someone. She lowered her hands and looked at the soldier. "Not working? No? You sure?...ah damn it. I am _not_ crazy!" she added cheerfully, with a smile and a thumbs up. The soldier hurried past without looking back.

"Great, the first one who thinks I'm crazy. Let the list begin." she deadpanned, rolling her eyes and continuing walking. Eventually she found the cafeteria and walked in. Only a handful of soldiers were in here, so she slipped past into the kitchen and grabbed the first pair of scissors she spotted. She cut away most of the jeans until they reached just past her knees, careful not to cut herself. She thought this looked fine. She replaced the scissors, trashed the spare material, turned - and literally bumped right into Lennox's chest. "What? How the hell-" he silenced her by clearing his throat.

"Oh good. Now you're here you can have some food," he said, gesturing to the accumulating line of soldiers waiting for food. "If you go now you can do whatever for the rest of the day. Until Sam comes back in about a week anyway." he added, sighing. Nora raised an eyebrow.

"Sam? Who's Sam? Where is he?" she asked, forgetting she'd already heard Lennox say something about this 'Sam' person. Lennox waved his hand dismissively and told her he'd tell her later. With that, he sat at one of the tables near a dark-skinned man wearing an army suit just like everyone else and a red beret with a silver symbol on the front. They started talking and Nora began to inspect the foods, looking for something suitable. She cringed - everything was _meat_; she was strongly against eating meat. There was not a single non-meat offer in sight. The smell of cooking fish kept reaching her and she breathed out through her nose heavily to get rid of the offending stench. She returned to Lennox. "I can't eat any o' that stuff," she complained, "I'm a vegetarian." Lennox sighed again.

"Of course...here," he took a ten dollar note out of his pocket and trying to hand it to her. She stepped back, not wanting to take it, a hesitant frown on her face. He thrust it at her, insisting. "Take it, I earn a lot more than this a week, trust me." After much coaxing she finally pocketed it and went to find a chauffeur.

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><p>"Come on, just one ride."<p>

"I'd rather not."

"Come on, Sunstreaker, you kind of owe me. You _broke_ me."

"Pullin' the guilt card ain't gonna cut it, human." Sunstreaker rolled his eyes.

Nora huffed and went off to find a less tight-arsed 'Bot to help her. Her stomach growled and she cast a glare at the vain yellow mech polishing himself. "May as well try Sideswipe or Bumblebee. Maybe even Wheeljack, that guy was cool..." Nora saw movement to her left and turned, seeing the same soldier from earlier attempting to shuffle away unseen, bewildered look back on his face. Nora sighed. "For the love of-get out of here! Go!" he walked as fast as he could away from the girl who kept talking to herself. Nora groaned in frustration. "That guy is gonna give me the eye for weeks now..." she said as she went on her search for a 'Bot. About fifteen minutes later she wandered into the Rec Room and saw Bee, Sideswipe and Jazz sitting on the 'Bot couch conversing. For a second it occurred to her she hadn't seen anyone else since that introduction the day before. She ran over and jumped, landing successfully on the couch next to the former 'Bot.

"Hey. Where's Ironass and Wheeljack? I know Ratchet's in the Med Bay." she asked. Jazz snorted, shifting himself to a better position.

"'Jackie's probably in his lab fixin' ta blow somethin' up, and Ironhide the same, only in the shootin' range." he explained, turning to Bee when he started whirring. His radio started shooting out phrases and lines; "**Shouldn't mock people who hold the big guns, you know**...**" **the clicks coming from his chest sounded like laughter as he watched her shrug and grin. "**So if you don't care, fine then, I don't care either.**" he finished, smiling at her.

"So what's up, Nora, ya need something or are ya bored already?" Sideswipe asked, watching as Nora looked up at them. She shrugged, flicking a piece of hair away - they noticed she did that a lot - before smiling.

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><p>As it turned out, Jazz was due for a meeting and Sideswipe was on patrol with his twin. Wheeljack was in his lab as per usual and as Bumblebee had offered to take her out, he forbade her from going in there; telling her it was "too dangerous for a human", to which she had rolled her eyes and gave off an exaggerated groan. After thanking him she allowed him to carry her in his palm to the exit. Her eyes were glued to him the second he transformed; the sleek, shiny Camaro was amazing - she felt unworthy to sit in it! Climbing in made the girl realize how new the car was; not a speck of dirt in sight.<p>

The cool breeze Nora felt with Bee's windows down was great - she lounged in the driver's seat, one arm resting on his exterior and the other placed loosely around the wheel to avoid suspicion from the police or anyone who passed close enough to see inside. _Especially_ police, because Nora was officially too young to drive and couldn't explain how a Cybertronian was doing the driving. "Hey Bee?" she began, "How are you all so...perfect, _all_ the time?" Bumblebee whirred in amusement as she elaborated. "I mean, you all drive around a lot but never get dirty." Bee clicked and his radio spoke. "**We are just too pretty-**" he cut off before the quote finished and Nora laughed.

"Sunstreaker seems to think so!"

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><p>"Wow. Man, that was so worth it," the stuffed girl said, finishing her soda and trashing it, "I guess we should head back now huh?" Bee nodded. His holoform had black hair just like Nora, and he was about the same age as her. Everything but his Bermuda shorts(which were also black)was a dark yellow color. His trainers were like his alt; yellow with black stripes and laces. Nora hadn't gotten new shoes and so hers were worse than ever. She stood, the plastic chair she had been sitting in scraping as she pushed it outwards, before climbing back into the Camaro and relaxing again. "Thanks Bee. Do you do this often or something?" she asked, immediately thinking of how this Sam got his food. Bee nodded and climbed into his own altmode before fizzling out and driving off. "<strong>Do it all the time-boy just won't otherwise.<strong>" Nora nodded in understanding and sat up, peering at the sky.

"Hey Bumblebee...is it just me, or is that jet coming straight at us?" she said, gasping as the 'Bot swerved off the road and sped as far away from society as possible. "Bee? What's going on?!" the girl yelled as they went over an off-road pothole. Bee was whirring and clicking faster than usual. "**We gotta get out of here, pronto.**" They got far enough away that no one would see the blast from the sky that flipped the car over.

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><p>Such a long chapter! I couldn't find a place to end it X3 Hope you enjoyed, and I think this counts as a cliff hanger :D Please leave a review, they <em>do <em>help, and see you next update! :D


	9. Chapter 9

This update took longer than I meant it to, sorry about that :/ I don't get my own laptop until December D': Anyway - minor swearing - only one or two words, my OC only swears when either angry or in a lot of pain. Thanks for all the reviews I've received so far! :D Hope you enjoy!

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><p>The world was spinning, colors and shapes whizzing by; confusion clouded Nora's head as she struggled to prevent herself from being thrown around in Bee's cab, clutching the seats, while at the same time she could feel the multiple impacts the 'Bot was taking. The sound of wrenching metal reached her time and time again as Bee tried in vain to flip himself the right way up. The girl vaguely heard Bee talk, though she had to strain herself to hear exactly what he said.<p>

"**Abandon ship! Abandon ship!...-for your own good."** his radio crackled right before his right side - the passenger seat - caved in, glass shattering and windowframe bending. She understood at once, eyes widening as she looked to her left at the still-spinning land.

There was no time to protest - moments later the driver's side door opened and Nora was thrown out, airborne at least ten feet up for a second before landing painfully on her side, instantly winding her; she looked over at Bumblebee just as he stopped flipping and watched him transform, casting his optics around in a panic, searching for her. A shadow loomed over her and she rolled over onto her back, gasping. There, above her, stood a silver Transformer about the same height as Sideswipe(though not as tall as Optimus)who was currently focused on Bumblebee; he seemed not to have noticed Nora yet, so she stayed very still, waiting for a chance to get away from the giant foot very near her face. Unlike the other Autobots, who all had blue optics, this menacing mech sported narrow, blood-red optics. He was occasionally sort of..._drooling_ energon, mainly when he made his odd little noises of mirth at the injured Autobot. When he spoke, he had a raspy sort of voice; it sent wary shivers down Nora's spine.

"Autobot _scum,_" he spat(literally), getting Bee's attention as the 'Bot whirled around to face the new mech. Bee's optics narrowed in loathing; he spotted Nora as she began very slowly climbing to her feet. He looked away the moment he saw her in case the Decepticon realized she was there, but unfortunately this was exactly what happened; the 'Con glanced down, saw Nora, then made to grab her. She realized what was happening and with a yelp rolled out of the way of his grasping fingers as he growled. "Do not _run _from me, human!" he hissed, sending energon cascading down; most of it splattered onto the soil, but some of it splashed on Nora. The skin on her arms absorbed it and burnt them like fire from hell as she cried out in pain, glaring up at the thing, furious.

"What's your problem bitch?" she yelled and with that she aimed a swift kick at his foot. In hindsight, this was a terrible idea - pain shot through her leg and she mentally slapped herself as the Decepticon sneered at her.

"Your frail body cannot hurt me, human," he told her, and this time Nora dodged the apparently harmful spit, "Now die!" At this final remark the Decepticon shot at her, missing by mere centimeters. He created several small craters in the ground, sending Nora airborne once more until she landed with a solid thump. Bee looked at the Decepticon, hate in his optics, and blared "**This ain't their fight!**" as he gestured to the human girl. Nora looked at him, hoping he'd be OK considering he was much smaller than the red-eyed mech.

And kick this freak's arse at the same time, of course.

From behind them came the sound of several revving engines and while Bee stayed focused on the spitting pile of junk, Nora stumbled to her feet, wincing at the pain in her foot and the burns on her arms as she moved, but when she saw the group of Autobots she grinned. It was Ironhide, cannons blazing, the Twins, identical looks of concentration on their faces, and Ratchet, his signature frown fixed on his faceplates.

"Decepticon punk!" Ironhide glared and fired a shot that soared over Bee's head and hit the drooling mech. Then, as he was still busy with that and before he could retaliate, Sunstreaker did the same as Sideswipe swept his feet from under him, causing him to land with ground-shaking crunch; he then jumped, transformed and ground his accelerating wheel into the 'Con's face. Shrieking with pain, he heaved the wheel off of him, transformed into an F-22 jet and before he flew off, hissed "Lord Megatron will hear of your new...addition..." Sunstreaker ran forward to join his brother and snorted, looking up at where the mech had disappeared. They looked at each other and grinned.

"Coward!" they said this at the same time and Nora blinked. Pain still throbbed in her arms, neck and foot and she could see Ratchet glaring at her; stumbling to her feet she limped toward them, managing a grin.

"Who was that?" she sounded like she'd like to kick his arse herself, though of course her size would not help. Bee knelt and frowned at her as she waved him off. "Before you even start, I'm fine," she said, "No harm done, no pain no gain, right?" She noticed all the Autobots staring at her and shuffled uncomfortably. "Uh, what? Did I say something I shouldn't have?"

Ironhide put his guns away and harrumphed. He turned away and transformed. "No," he said, "A boy we are affiliated with used that saying once," he explained, "Are you acquaintanced with him? His name is Samuel Witwicky." The name stirred something in Nora's mind, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She shook her head, trying to remember the name. "No. It's just something my dad used to say, said he learned it from a family friend. Witwicky...rings a bell..." With a shrug she climbed into Ironhide and, ignoring his grumbling, patted the dashboard. "I'm sure you can explain him to me on the way back."

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><p>Ironhide finished explaining the story of the Witwicky's just as the Autobots started pulling into the base. The government was left with the task of clearing up the scene of the fight - the craters, the currently slightly-radioactive, blue stained soil and the bits of Cybertronian metal littering the land. They also had to deal with the people who had spread the sighting of a jet shooting and dive bombing a car.<p>

The driver's door popped open and Nora scrambled out; once she was standing on the concrete she suddenly wasn't sure what to do. Ironhide had told her that Sam would be back in a day, early, so she could meet him then - for now she wasn't entirely certain where to go or who to talk to. Ironhide walked off somewhere, presumably to the shooting range, and Bee had gone in for repairs; the Twins had been sent on patrol to scout for more 'Decepticons', as she'd been told they were called, and so now she had three options.

Go to Wheeljack's lab, see what Prime was up to or report to Ratchet for the nasty-looking red blisters on her arms. She weighed the options, figuring that the leader would be busy, and a trip to the medic so soon after her last accident might not bode too well with him, she decided to see Wheeljack for the first time since the introduction. Although she had been warned not to she argued that telling a teenager not to do something led to them doing it anyway, so she walked out of the rec-room with her plan, only to realize she had no idea where his lab was, or if he was even in there. Evidence pointed to yes, seeing as how she hadn't seen hide nor tail of him in almost four days, but doubt still lurked - until she saw the dark-skinned man Lennox had sat with in the cafeteria stride past her at the end of the hallway. "Hey!" she called, waving and running to catch up to him, "Wait! You're Lennox's friend right? Wait up!" she turned the corner, saw him talking to a soldier; she jogged up to him and stood there, waiting for him to finish his conversation. He sent the soldier off before turning to her with a frown.

"May I help you? Why aren't you in uniform?" He said, disapproval clear in his voice as he continued writing on a pad. Nora looked down at the clothes Lennox's wife had once worn, flexing her toes and watching the worn out material of her own shoes bend up with them. She stood there in silence for a minute. Lennox's friend cleared his throat. "Well? Soldier?" At "Soldier" she was attentive as she looked up at his face.

"I may not be the best dressed," she flexed the shoes again for emphasis, "or the smartest, or the prettiest...but I take no _shit_ from anyone. I am not your soldier, nor am I someone you can talk down to, so look at me when I speak to you." she watched him slowly look up, a shocked look on his face, before he burst out laughing. A growl rose in her throat; she had been laughed at plenty of times in her life and was sick of it. "Mind telling me what's so funny?" the growl almost escaped. Still chuckling, he replied,

"Aw, damn, girl, I know who you are! You're the girl Sideswipe brought in!" he patted her roughly on the back, nearly sending the girl stumbling forward, and sighed. "Will warned me you might turn vicious! I'm Robert Epps, by the way, but you can call me Epps. Everyone does." he laughed again, then abruptly turned serious. "Hey, is it true you're an orphan?" Nora blinked at him, not answering the question. What an awfully rude thing to ask like that. Anger returning (along with a hint of wistful longing at the little reminder), she spat, "No, of course not - I love living alone around a bunch of strangers I barely know!" He held up his hands in a surrendering gesture and said "Woah, calm down. I only wanted to know because I used to know your dad, I knew Angus, from school."

All feelings left Nora. Now there was just this emptiness, this numbness; she swallowed, all background noise gone; it was only her and him. Nora knew her dad had gone to a college in England - Epps didn't sound English.

"Yeah," he said softly, seeming to sense her doubt, "Yeah, I know, sounds hard to believe. I'm not from England or anything, just went to school there, living with my aunt." He put his hands down, one coming to rest on her shoulder. "When Lennox told me about him and Bridget dying, I almost cried. He was my best friend. God only knows how you feel every day," He shook his head and sighed. "Your dad and his Bridget were together for years, loved each other so much. You couldn't separate them if their lives depended on it. I lost contact with Angus after we graduated, but I know that when your mother had you, it musta been the best day of his life, your mom's too. They were good people, Nora. Always were and they always will be." Nora had tears in her eyes. Refusing to show this kind of weakness around anyone she blinked to keep them back and smiled up at Epps.

"Thank you." she muttered, feeling bittersweet as he nodded with his own smile and continued on his way. Nora figured she'd rather find the lab on her own, give herself time to dry her face and gather herself.

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><p>She met Jazz on the way. He had learned of the fighting and had asked if she was OK, what with the untreated burns on her arms and the scar he had see on her back after she'd fallen in one of the hallways. This alone was embarrassing, and she then had to explain how the scar came from something else. He was doubtful of the burns.<p>

"Nora, I'm pretty sure ya should get ol' Ratchet th' Hatchet ta take a look at that." He said uncertainly, eyeing her as she waved off his concerns. He was accompanying her as far as the shooting range, where he was going to train with Ironass.

"I'm fine," she assured for the second time in the past two hours. "I'll go to him tomorrow if it makes you feel better." She found it amusing that she and Jazz were two of the only people who didn't sound American in this place. He hummed and nodded, turning a corner and calling back,

"Ya better. I'll check with 'im!"

Nora soon found the lab and walked inside like she wasn't new to it. "Weren't you told not to come here?" a grumpy Wheeljack grumbled as he tinkered with something on the large table in front of him. He put it down before turning to face her, leaning slightly on the edge. Nora shrugged and moved as if to leave, taking each step slowly and deliberately. It had only taken her an hour to find the lab in such a huge place - she wasn't leaving yet!

"Well if you don't want me in here with you, I'll go find Jazz." she said, listening to him hum in thought. Eventually, just as she was nearing the door, he spoke up.

"I didn't say you couldn't stay though..." he said, making her grin. She'd known that would work. Then she was picked up so suddenly in his metal hands - which were surprisingly warm - that she felt momentarily dizzy as the floor sped away from her and she remembered what had happened last time she was this high up. "You can help me if you'd like. Samuel won't help me because-um, he's not interested." he added quickly, and Nora was immediately suspicious. He cleared his throat and turned, putting her down on the desk with the thing he was working on. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, gesturing at it proudly. The girl studied it, turning her head at different angles, inspecting it. Her head lifted.

"Nope. It's made of Cybertronian metal, right? I've never seen it when it's not attached to you guys." He nodded approvingly, picking up what looked like an advanced, shiny, black grenade pin.

"Good," he said, "I'd be surprised if you _did_ know. _Pleasantly_ surprised, but, all the same. Now!" he added, loudly, as Nora jumped. "We finish building the outer edges of the explosive, and then, it'll be ready for the battlefield! I expect Ironhide will get the most use out of these..." he continued muttering, apparently to himself yet seeming pleased at Nora's look of rapt attention and interest.

_**Seven Hours Later**_

"Ha! Finished!" Wheeljack exclaimed, holding up the new grenade for Nora to see. He frowned when he saw her sitting there, head bobbing in an effort to stay awake. Even as she told him it looked 'Like awesome and amazing became one' he kept his pride at bay, thanked her and offered "Perhaps I should escort you to your quarters." It _was _getting rather late, and he knew humans required sleep. Ignoring her head shaking protests he put down the weapon and scooped her up. "No arguments, Miss. I'll take you," as an afterthought, he smiled. "I'll even postpone testing until you can see it with me." He chuckled at her look of excitement and proceeded out of his lab and in search of the human's quarters. When he arrived, Epps was just coming out of it and Nora had fallen asleep in his hand. Epps waved to him as he knelt. "Epps" 'Jack said, quietly, "Please take Miss Nora to a bed. She is asleep right now." He lowered his hand and Epps smiled at the sleeping girl.

"Yeah, I'll take her." He lifted her into his strong arms and retreated back into the human's quarters. Wheeljack stood, knowing that he and this human would get along very well...once she was fully rested.

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><p>Finally! Procrastination kills xD Hope you enjoyed, cos I sure did. I love writing :) Please leave a review, they make me happy :D Next chapter the Witwicky's return and they meet Nora, so see you then!<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Nothing to put up here really, except the one thing I keep forgetting to do: the disclaimer. I'll put that at the end here. Enjoy guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. I only only own my OC, Nora, and the storyline.

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><p>The girl remembered drifting off in Wheeljack's lab, and it was a bright, well-lit lab - it was darker now, and definitely not the mech's lab. She lay still, unsure of where she currently was and still in a state of half-sleep confusion. Her body felt stiflingly hot, while for some reason her arms felt ice cold. She could hear nothing but her own breathing, unsteady but quiet, though it sounded loud in the silence; panic rose in her chest as the images from her recent nightmare flashed before her eyes in the darkness. She struggled to sit up, soft material smothering her as she kicked and tried to dispel the horrifying images of smoke, flame, and crumbling wood invading her mind.<p>

Nora's efforts were leading her nowhere; her legs kept getting caught in the blanket and she - wait, a _blanket_? It was then she realized someone had put her in a bed somewhere, though she'd obviously struggled in the night, as the absence of pillows proved. How late was it? Why was it so dark? Eventually she kicked herself free and stood, her eyes itching from lack of sleep. Having no idea where the light was, or if there was one, she felt around blindly until a protruding bit of plastic in the wall met her searching fingers - she pushed upwards and the room flooded with dim yellow light. It was a small room. A bed, white sheets now lying mostly on the floor with the pillows, drenched in warm sweat; a digital clock that showed her it was just past midnight. This proved to her that she must not have slept long, because she'd stayed with 'Jack until at most 8 or 9pm. Nora groaned, voice threatening to break, and rubbed at her tired eyes, feeling some of the burning itch ebb away.

Nora caught sight of her arms and gasped. The energon burns the freak Decepticon had given her had disappeared, replaced with deep blue lines resembling veins, running from her wrists up to her upper arm where they tapered off. She stared at them, bewildered, before shaking her head - she'd have no choice but to go to Ratchet now. Either someone would make her go, take her directly to him, or the lines would darken or get worse. She disregarded it for now, knowing she'd go later.

The only other thing in here was a small, rectangular wooden bedside table, on top of which lay a phone(a freaking _IPhone_)with a green sticky note stuck to it, a small brown paper bag, a purse the size of a can of juice and a picture. After she had calmed herself considerably, she picked up the paper bag and peered inside. A messy lump of forest-green material met her eyes along with a dark blue underneath. The girl emptied the bag onto the bed - clothes. _New _clothes. A pair of loose jeans, the green shirt, ankle liners and a pair of black canvas trainers. Her face turned a light pink when she saw the underclothes, hoping no one she knew had bought these. She stared at them for a minute before noticing the A4 lined paper that had fell out with the clothes. From Lennox, it read,

_I realized you must only have one change of clothes now so I went and bought these using some of the N.E.S.T Base's budget - don't worry, they won't mind, nor will they miss it. Change into these, put the ones you're wearing now into this bag, and leave it at the end of the bed. My wife saw a security picture of you and she got you these. Trust me, they'll all fit perfectly. When you're ready, you can come out of that room and into Base. Also - the money in the purse? **Keep it**. It's yours, be it for clothes, food, toys, whatever you want. **Do not **try to give it back to either Epps or myself. That's it for now._

He hadn't explained the phone, but she'd read the note later. For now, she wanted to shower; she'd just have to sleep in a towel.

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><p>By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, it was around 12:54am, though it would have been sooner if she hadn't debated with herself about whether she should accept the army men's kindness. The bag of new clothes sat on the table, the old ones dropped outside the shower. Now she focused on the phone. She peeled off the large-ish note first, reading the writing fairly quick.<p>

_Use whenever you need, fully charged, is programmed with Autobots Comms. Charger under table._

_-Epps._

Nora couldn't stop the grin that spread over her face; she'd heard about these phones, she'd just never actually touched or seen one before; after all, she had been too young for one when her parents were alive, and the lack of money in the orphanage had stopped her buying one.

Not that she'd needed it. Besides, it would have just been stolen and broken by the other kids.

She found the power button, switched it on. She saw the apps; camera, video, calendar, app store, clock etc. In the bottom row, where the Phone, Music, Safari and Settings apps were kept, she pressed her finger to the contacts, seeing a list of all the Autobot's names along with Lennox and Epps. She smiled, appreciating the things they had done for her. A yawn escaped her then, and she switched the phone off, laying it on the table and offing the light(she opened the blinds a little, she was ashamed to admit)before climbing back into the bed. Just lay there breathing, staring at the ceiling, waiting for blissful sleep. Unfortunately, the sleep was not as blissful as she had hoped, and instead was filled with darkness and fear. She tossed in her troubled sleep, waking six hours later with tears streaming down her face and panicked gasps wrenching her chest.

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><p>Sideswipe sighed. He could not regret the day he had rescued his newest friend, Nora, from those foul humans; she was funny, interesting, didn't bother him(too much)and didn't complain when he drove too fast. Although she <em>could<em> be a little ditsy at times, that was part of what made him like her. However, she could not hide the fact that something was clearly wrong; she was developing what the humans called "grey bags" under her eyes, and once, he'd heard her screaming in the room she slept in on the way back from a meeting. He had paused to listen, mildly worried, but had heard nothing but the shower beginning to run, so had left. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with her - aside from the obvious nightmares - and decided he'd have to ask her about it.

"Bro? Hey, bro, ya even listening?" Sideswipe was snapped out of his thoughts by his twin's voice practically yelling right in his audio receptor. He turned and glared at Sunstreaker as he stood and stretched. "Glad ta see you're back," Sunny smirked, poking Sideswipe in the chest. Sideswipe retaliated by giving Sunstreaker a light shove, grinning as the yellow mech looked down with a shocked look on his faceplates. "My paint!" He said, frowning as he returned the shove, harder.

Jazz, sitting on the 'Bot couch and watching them, sighed and shook his head. "Here we go..." He commed Ratchet and Ironhide, seeing which was available, before sitting back with his arms crossed behind his head; he grinned as the shoving continued, waiting for the fun to happen.

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><p>Ratchet had just finished repairing one of the dents in Bumblebee's doorwing when his comm system alerted him. He grumbled to himself as he answered it, listening to Jazz carefully. When he understood what was going on, he spluttered in frustration and turned to Bee. "You!" he called sharply, making Bee's head snap towards him in apprehension.<p>

"**What did I do, to annoy you?**" He cocked his head to the side, hoping he hadn't angered the medic; Primus, it could be scary when he got mad. He watched as Ratchet shook his head, still frowning.

"It's nothing _you've _done, it's what those fragging twins are doing!" He explained, "Stay here until I get back. So help you if you leave this medbay, Bumblebee!" Ratchet nodded in satisfaction when the smaller 'Bot held his hands up in an "I surrender" pose before storming out. Bee shook his own head as he sighed in relief.

Until the boredom began to settle in.

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><p>"Slaggin' bit-brain!"<p>

"Gasket breath!"

"Get recycled!"

"Glitch!"

Jazz continued to watch as the twins threw insults at each other, back and forth, rolling around on the floor as they wrestled. The rec-room doors opened and Ironhide walked in, cannons still smoking faintly. He froze when he saw Sideswipe and Sunstreaker and looked at Jazz for an explanation. Jazz merely told him Ratchet was soon coming, and the Weapons Specialist grunted and sat across from him to polish the smoked armor around the gun. "So," he muttered, "How long have they been at it this time?"

"'Bout ten Earth minutes," Jazz rolled his optics under the visor. "Sunny-"

"Don't call me that!"

Jazz continued as if there had been no interruption. "-started it by pokin' Sides'. It all went downhill from there." Ironhide grunted again and sat passively polishing. Until the doors reopened and the two calm mechs looked up at a furious medic.

"They are in for it now anyway." Ironhide smirked.

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><p>Nora stepped out of the bathroom with a bundle of clothes in her suddenly throbbing arms. She had taken a second shower before dressing in the clothes Mrs Lennox had bought her and just as Will had said, the clothes did, indeed, fit perfectly. The shoes were good, though she figured they'd be kind of useless if she was going to run anywhere(which she sometimes did, in order to get places faster). She reminded herself to thank Lennox later, and to tell his wife from Nora she was grateful. The phone and the purse was pocketed, the old clothes in the bag at the foot of her bed, just as she'd been instructed. The first thing she'd have to buy was a bag; the items were always in danger of falling out if she kept them in a shallow pocket forever. So now she set off for the main part of the base, ignoring the straight bits of damp hair falling into her face.<p>

After about ten minutes of walking she realized she had no idea where to go. There were no soldiers around at 8:30am, all away training or something, so she figured it was time to use the phone for the first time. She brought up the contacts and pressed a finger to Bumblebee's name before putting it to her ear. It picked up almost immediately and she coughed awkwardly at the beep from the other end. "Uh..." her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, "Uh, Bee? I'm lost." Another beep and she frowned. "Bee? Not Cybertronian, dude. Use your radio or something."

"**How did you lose your way?**" Nora shrugged, seemingly forgetting he couldn't see her. Or so she thought - she cast a glance around just to make sure, eyeing the phone suspiciously.

"This place is about four times bigger than the orphanage, Bumblebee. It, is, _huge_." She walked as they talked. "I need you to come help me." To her dismay, Bee informed her that he was confined to the medbay(though he called it hospital, she knew what was meant). "Oh. OK. See you later I guess." She hung up just as a tremor shook the ground and faint yelling echoed down the hall. _Ratchet?_ the girl thought, a bemused expression on her face. Seconds later an enraged Ratchet stormed towards her, towing two nearly-identical twins behind him. Nora raised an eyebrow - at the same time casually folding her arms behind her back - before running to them. "Sideswipe?" she called, fighting a grin when a wrench connected with his head.

"_Don't_ talk to him! He was slagging _fighting _his own twin again!" he stooped to pick up the gleaming, oversized wrench and stormed off, still dragging two kicking, yelling Lamborghinis. A few minutes later the voices faded and she was alone again - until this time ironhide walked through the doors. He stared down at her, studying her for the first time since they'd met. After what seemed like an endless staring match between the two, the large black mech pointed a thumb behind him.

"If you're looking for the others, head that way. Only straight. you got it punk?" he asked, walking off, feet echoing quietly down the hallway every step. Nora shrugged; she figured he might never like her. Listening to his advice she began down that hall, searching for someone to spend the day with.

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><p>New chapter, yay verily! I know it ended on kind of an odd place(or at least I think so)but next chapter will include more Decepticon action, and maybe the Witwicky's! :D Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see in here - <strong><em>anything<em>!** All ideas welcome from all people! :D


	11. Chapter 11

Witwicky time! Miles _and _Leo are in this, because I like them both :D The poll (the one about who Nora should end up with) is done, results will be see seen soon :p Enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, only the idea and Nora.

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><p>Optimus was awaiting outside the hangar on the arrival of his human friends. After they were escorted home by Bumblebee(after the scout expressed his joy and excitement at seeing them again, as he surely would), their son, Samuel, was being taken to the Autobot base. He would have to meet Nora sooner or later, as would Mr and Mrs Witwicky. Ironhide had expressed his disliking for the parents earlier("The parents are very irritating..."), much to his annoyance, and had once again asked whether he could terminate them. Optimus could not help but think that maybe he should <em>command <em>his weapons specialist to try to relinquish his hate of the humans, but he knew he could not do that; he may have been able to use his authority on the battlefield, or when things got too rough amongst each other, but he could not forcefully change one's opinions or beliefs.

With a sigh, the Prime sat still in his truck form and waited patiently for the arrival of his scout and the boy. He was sure to have questions about Nora, which he would be happy to answer when they came, but he wasn't too sure how they would react to each other. After all, Nora was barely an adult at seventeen; Samuel was already twenty-three years old (though to a Transformer that was nothing) and his younger(though not by much)friends Miles Lancaster and Leo Spitz were sure to have mixed emotions about her...he just hoped they were not "all over her like squirrels to a nut" as Samuel had once so elegantly put it, when talking about Leo's fascination for Mikaela. All he could do was wait and see.

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><p>"So Bee, it's great to see you again buddy," Sam Witwicky was happy as he sat in the driver's seat of his friend, with Miles in the passenger and Leo sprawled out in the back sipping a soda disinterestedly. Leo was still mildly cautious around any Transformer after dealing with the dim-witted Mudflap and Skids - or the Icecream Twins as everyone had come to know them - and had insisted on his current seating. So after about an hour of silence, he jumped when his friend finally talked, sitting upright when Bumblebee emitted a series of squeaks and low pitched whistles before communicating through the radio.<p>

**"I've missed you. Don't leave me again!"** blared something from what the boys guessed was from a song judging by the guitar in the background. Sam smiled and patted the dashboard. "Don't worry, Bee, next vacation's not for a couple years. Maybe that time you can come." He knew it was an empty promise - Witwicky vacations were off-limits to the Autobots and his dad would stick to that like glue. Still, it comforted his robot friend and that was fine for now. Miles recoiled indignantly.

"Dude. You'd' let him come on your sacred holidays but you'd blow me off for a chick?" He turned away to scowl at the passing scenery as Sam rolled his eyes. As they neared the base he grinned; he could already see the Prime waiting for them in the sun, and as he transformed he sighed. It felt good to be back in a place he actually fit in.

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><p>"So, what, there's a new guy coming to your base?"<p>

Sideswipe rolled his opticsas his brother sighed in irritation. He himself had explained this to Nora several times. "He ain't _new_, he was here before ya," he muttered, stifling a snort when he heard Sunstreaker groan at the splatter of mud that splashed up onto his side as they drove. They had gone on patrol nd brought the housebound Nora with them. "Ya were told; he went to Spain for a while and now he's back."

"Right." Nora shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was not used to meeting new people, especially since every time she'd met someone at the orphanage they'd reject her, call her names and make horrid suggestions for her("She should be cast out onto the streets." "Dirty little girl."). She didn't think she could handle another rejection. Sideswipe, seemingly sensing something was wrong, put himself into a lower gear and asked whether she was ok, but he only recieved a fake smile and a nod. He figured it had something to do with Samuel, but he couldn't be sure; he simply urged his brother to go faster and sped up.

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><p>Sam had never been so happy to be home. Or, maybe not 'home' exactly, but...oh, whatever. His second home at any rate. At least here he didn't have his name shrieked at him from downstairs by his batty mother every hour. Or get groaned at for not doing chores properly by his father. Or sometimes both. Optimus had allowed him to roam freely after the greeting and he now sat in the rec-room keeping his eyes open for this mystery arrival he'd been told about, whilst his two guy friends made bets on whether it was a girl or not - which was weird, because they didn't know this person's name, age, parents, any of that - and whether heshe was "a cool dude". Miles sidled up to him on the 'Bot couch as Leo watched with a smirk on his face.

"Dude," he poked Sam in the shoulder. Sam continued on his phone. "_Dude_." he poked again, harder this time, and Sam frowned as he looked up. Miles grinned at him. "Want to cash in on the gender of the new guy?"

"No, I don't. And if you're already calling them "guy" you gotta already think it's a man. Something you'd like to come out of Miles? Like a closet perhaps?" Miles face fell and he leaned back slightly. "Besides," Sam continued, a smile threatening his face, "Even if it is a girl not only do I not care but what if she's like twenty years older than you? You can't date her, man, it's wrong." Miles shrugged.

"Your loss." Leo leaned forwards and raised his hand to get their attention.

"Who said anything about dating?"

Before either of them could react the doors opened and two Lamborghinis sped in, smoke rising from the friction of the wheels grinding against concrete and the smell of burning rubber drifted through the air. Only Sam knew who these mechs were, as Miles had caught up to him later and Leo had probably been too busy laying eggs to notice much at the time. So when he realized, he smiled.

"Hey guys!" A series of greetings came from them, such as "yo" and "how's it goin'". Their windows were not blackened and so they saw clear as day the girl who sat hunched in the driver's seat of Sideswipe. Sam groaned as Leo and Miles fist-bumped with a whoop and just watched in disbelief as they ran to the now still cars, eager to meet the new girl. "Like dogs to a fox..." he mumbled and went to join them.

"Humans, unless you wanna die, stand back." That was definitely Sunny. He transformed, attempting to flaunt himself as he flexed, but unfortunately for him all attention was on his brother, whose door had just slid smoothly open to reveal the same girl sitting uncertainly in the seat. Sideswipe rumbled his engine, urging her gently out, and when she was standing he too transformed, looking down at them, watching.

"Uh...hi," Nora smiled and half waved her hand, obviously trying not to show her nervousness to these strangers - could she trust them? Could she grow to know them? She looked at them as Sunstreaker explained to them who she was and why she was here. One of them had short brown hair and brown eyes, semi-thick eyebrows, the beginnings of a goatee and currently wore a checked blue shirt. The one standing nearest him had shoulder length shaggy blond hair and thinner eyebrows, wearing nothing but a pair of white 3/4 shorts with wavy black lines(presumably due to the heat). The last one had curly brown hair and wore a salmon colored tee. This last one disturbed Nora slightly; he was staring at her blatantly, mouth agape, and he was nudging the blond one repeatedly with his elbow. She tore her eyes away from his brown ones and returned her gaze to the guy who was enduring the nudges. She was drawn to him for some reason. Nora's eyes went from his face to his chest and back again. She could see the light glimmering in his sapphire eyes and the sight calmed her a bit. Before she knew it he glanced at her and the connection was broken - her eyes shot to the floor and heat rose in her face.

"Nora. _Nora_. Nora!" Nora's attention was brought to Sideswipe. He glared down at her. "Were ya _actually _a squirrel in a past life or somethin'?" with a sigh he sat down on the 'Bot couch and was shortly joined by his brother. Alone, in a sense, Nora's hard-ass image was breaking. The shaking hands and the no eye contact showed it as obviously as possible.

"Sooo...Nora, was it? Cute name." _Oh crap_, thought Nora as the creepy guy snaked his arm around her shoulder as though he'd known her for years, gripping her tense shoulder tightly. Nora frowned; this was not okay. She was tempted to throw the man over her shoulder, but before she could he had started speaking again. "Name's Leonardo Ponce de Léon Spitz, but you can call me Leo." he quirked his brows at her as he backed off smirking. A shudder was suppressed. The brown haired guy held out his hands and rubbed his neck.

"Uh, hey. Sorry about him, Mr Creep over there. Oh he has some good qualities...he's great with tazers for example," Leo glared at him. "I'm Sam Witwicky. Hi. Do I already know you? You look familiar..." he seemed to think about it for a while, eyes narrowed as he thought; Leo snorted.

"Don't hurt yourself, Sammy." Sam elbowed him with an eyeroll before shrugging. "Whatever. I'm gonna go call my girlfriend to let her know I'm back, excuse me for a minute." with that, the boy walked over to a set of stairs leading up to a small platform and raised his phone. Nora remembered her own phone and fished it out of a pocket, fiddling with it for a moment to fill some of the silence. Fortunately, blondie seemed to sense the discomfort and coughed.

He held his hand up, fingers pointing skyward, and for a moment Nora was confused. Hesitantly, she reached her own hand out in the same way - and the second their hands slapped together in a highfive, to her annoyance, she felt her heart beat faster.

"Hey, new chick," he spoke, and Nora involuntarily smiled. It was a crooked smile, with a hint of embarrassment and irritation, because she could hear the twins sniggering. She knew they were watching her in amusement as she became slowly flustered. "Miles Lancaster at your service. Hope you don't think I'm a weirdo or a creep, but I like your eyes. They're so bright, one-of-a-kind!"

That was it. Nora's whole face flushed with red and she smiled again, watching as he stepped away and offered to give her a tour of the Autobot base with the three of them. And as she shot the still sniggering Twins a glare, and shoved a lock of hair away, she accepted.

Now she knew she'd cope. Miles and herself were clearly going to get along just fine, and she felt a spark of recognition with Sam...Leo was a little odd, but she knew she'd be okay.

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><p>Aww, Miles and Nora fluff! My friend is already trying to think of a pairing name! Too soon xD I meant this to be longer, but I wanted to update and the next one will be even longer, promise. Hope you enjoyed! Please review and see you next chapter.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

Guys, I am so very sorry for the long wait. I've had so much school stuff, minor issues at home and just a pinch of laziness. I know you probably don't want to hear my excuses, but the fact stands. Please enjoy this long chapter as my make-up gift! :D Two little things first; Nora hasn't seen Ratchet yet about the energon in her arms; it seems a little odd that he hadn't noticed yet, so that takes place in this chapter. 2nd thing is I know that in the movies "Wheeljack" is renamed Que, but I'm keeping Wheeljack. Also a holoform returns and there is mention of needles and a swear, in case any of you don't like them :P Enjoy.

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><p>The splitting headache would not give up, and it felt like construction workers were hammering around in her skull. Nora groaned and rubbed at her head before stopping abruptly after discovering this only made it worse, cursing inwardly. She could physically feel the throbbing in her temples as she lay spread out on the 'Bot couch; it had been two hours since meeting the boys and after they had gone to the house of Sam's girlfriend - Mikaela, she thought it was - to pick the girl up, she'd felt it beginning. Nora figured it had something to do with the blue lines tracing down her inner elbows but she couldn't find the motivation to go see the medical Autobot. Jazz had cautioned her once already, threatening to take her there himself, and she didn't doubt him. So she sighed and sat up, the whoosh of air dizzying her and causing her to topple back off the edge of the couch. Luckily for her it was a short fall, and although she was a little winded when she stood up, she was otherwise fine. Apart from her head of course. She made sure no one had seen that before setting off.<p>

Now, to find the Medbay. Nora knew it was several doors down from Wheeljack's lab and she knew perfectly fine where that was, so she headed that way, planning on cutting herself off when she either recognised something or actually saw the bay. It took her just under ten minutes of walking to get to Wheeljack's lab, and the door was closed - although she could hear the muffled noise of something whirring coming from inside - and she was so tempted to go in. However, if anything went kaboom her forehead might just follow suit. So she kept walking and eventually came to the doors of Ratchet's Medbay. There was no sign of the medic however. Or any 'Bot, for that matter. Strange, as there was always at least one of them around somewhere (except Bee, who was currently with Sam, Miles and Leo). "Ratchet? You in here?" She called loudly, hoping to be heard, but she got no answer. "Uh, medic guy? I need some help..." for one horrifying moment she considered whether or not this could be one of her nightmares - no one around, all alone, in a world of silence - until she heard a gruff voice call back to her.

"I'm in my office. Give me a minute and I'll be there, get up on the platform for now." It was obviously Ratchet. Nora looked up, seeing a large, steel, square platform holding several hospital beds for humans, IV drip poles, heart monitors and a blood pressure meter. The one she'd lain on when Sunstreaker had caused Sideswipe to drop her from too high up...she cringed at the memory. The sturdy-looking stairs leading up to it were facing her, lined against the wall. As she climbed she watched the floor get farther and farther away until finally she was at around eye-level of the Twins, or maybe even Ratchet. Nora sat on the bed closest to the railing and waited, feeling both her head _and_ arms pulsing. She looked down at them, inspecting the blue glow which threaded its way along her arms. A sudden thought struck her - wasn't this the effect of a Decepticon's saliva stuff? In other words the spit of another being? She grimaced. "That's so...ew. Weird." She glanced at the lines again in mild disdain and only looked up when Ratchet came out of a door on the far side of the Medbay.

"Alright, girl, so what is the matter with-" he stopped suddenly as he caught sight of her. He frowned and walked over, a briskness in his step that made the girl feel uneasy. "What in the name of Primus is this?" He used a single finger tp lift Nora's arm and look at the energon spit remains. "Eleanora, how long have you had this? How long has this been here?" He sounded concerned yet mildly irritated and Nora shifted, pulling her arm away and huffing as he pulled it back gently. Her haad was about to burst, she just knew it.

"Remember when we ran into that guy, what was it...Starscream? Well, he was mad and spitting all over the place. Some of it ended up on me, specifically my arms. Burned like fire, by the way..." She added in a mutter, watching as the medic moved her arm around to inspect it. No easy thing to do without breaking it when he was a giant. He looked up at her, still frowning.

"Why have you not reported to me with this before?" He questioned, "Was energon poisoning not considered serious enough for you to bother?" He stared at her, optics narrowed. Nora was not surprised. Energon poisoning?

"I was gonna, honestly. I thought maybe it would just, sort of, disappear..." she thought it best not to mention that Jazz knew about it already...she didn't want him getting into any trouble. The medic was still inspecting her arm, peering at it.

"Any other effects? For example fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, pain?" Nora told him about the headache but kept the insomnia to herself; that was the nightmares, not the energon. Although he might have been able to help her with those too, she preferred to keep them to herself for now.

Ratchet took a final inspection of the whole of both arms before straightening up. "This will hurt for a while I'm afraid. In the space of a few days, perhaps weeks, the energon will leak itself out. Unfortunately, this will happen via nosebleeds and vomiting rather than bodily functions. I can give you a small dosage of light liquid painkiller if you wish. It will help with your headache." At the girl's nod he excused himself, turned and walked into his office, leaving Nora on her own for now. As she waited she looked around her, taking in her surroundings; she didn't have anything better to do after all. After what seemed like an hour but was really only around ten minutes, Nora's inspection of the Medbay was interrupted. "I hope you understand the necessity of this."

Nora whipped round to see who had entered the Medbay - she hadn't seen Ratchet come out of the office (although if he had, she was too busy daydreaming to notice), and was pretty sure no Transformer could stand on the platform with her. The man stood there was older than her, about forty or fifty; he had brown hair peppered with grey and the shadow of stubble. He wore a white doctor's coat over a dark green collared shirt, black tie and black work trousers. A small case lay in his hands. He stared at the startled girl with an amused smile on his face, as though waiting for her to realize something. Something dinged in her head; the first thing she really noticed were his eyes; they were the same blazing ice blue as Sideswipe's holoform - then it hit her, like a ton of bricks as it was so painfully obvious.

"_Ratchet_?" she exclaimed, sitting back down on the bed as the man before her nodded. "But - how - I didn't know you had a holoform!"

"Did Sideswipe not tell you we all had one? I designed a chip which allows us all to use them." Ratchet asked, that same amused look on his face. Come to think of it, she _had _seen Bumblebee's one a day or two earlier. She wondered what the rest of the Autobots looked like...she shrugged as Ratchet sat next to her and unfolded the small case. "I deemed it impossible to help you without hurting you using my full size. I am in my altmode outside as I use this." The smile dropped from his face as he looked into her eyes. "What I don't understand," he said, "is why the energon left you with those markings and not simply second or third degree burns," he continued as he stopped the movement of his hands. "Energon is extremely bad for humans. A drop of it, merely a drop, landed on Samuel once and he was left with a serious burn for almost a year. What happened with you I wonder?" he stared at her in thought for a moment before shaking his head and looking down at whatever he was holding again.

"Anyway, I have the painkiller here. Not afraid of needles or sharpness are you?" he asked, lifting the 2cm long needle out of the case. Nora wasn't exactly ecstatic about them but she didn't care too much. She'd had shots for the flu before at school after all, so she was pretty used to it. When she shook her head Ratchet nodded and drew some clear liquid out of a bottle. Nora rolled up her sleeve to allow access, actually becoming eager for the release of her throbbing head, and looked at the ceiling (apparently if you watch a needle as it happens it is more painful - or so Nora had heard). One sharp sting later and the pain in her head began to subside instantly. She breathed a sigh of relief as the needle was put away. "Feeling better?" Ratchet asked, smiling once again as she nodded. "Good. Well, I trust you can make your own way out of my Medbay, because Prime requires my consultation. Until later then." with that he let the holoform fizzle out.

With the pain dealt with, Nora had no idea what to do now. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were on patrol and Wheeljack was clearly busy in his lab, Ironhide would probably be less than pleased to see her and Optimus was going to be talking to Ratchet. Time to find Lennox or Epps then!

* * *

><p>Lennox massaged the bridge of his nose as he watched the training of the newest soldiers. A few of them were turning the wrong way as the trainer called 'about turn', several were talking quietly to each other when the trainer couldn't see them and one even had the audacity to be tapping away on a phone! He walked up to the trainer (resisting the urge to roll his eyes as the troops hastily got themselves into order) and informed him of the trouble in his ranks. The trainer nodded with a frown and continued barking orders at those not paying enough attention. Satisfied Lennox turned and left the training hall. He hadn't 'grassed' on the troops to be spiteful or for laughs; he had done it so that it was a sure thing they would know what to do in a real battle. Another sigh escaped him as he remembered the meeting he would have to attend the next day to talk damage control and additions to the main hangar and the training hall he'd just vacated.<p>

He decided to see how the girl was doing. He'd not seen her for a while, and wanted to make sure she was doing okay with such a drastic change in her life. That and he had came to the conclusion that she only possessed one outfit. Her other one - the one which had had holes and scuffs all over and which he assumed Nora had lived in for years - had been abandoned, classed as 'unfixable'. Epps would have to take her shopping with the NEST budget money they'd allowed her; Lennox would take her himself but Epps seemed to know the child through her father. He winced as he thought about the hell he'd be getting from Galloway about both the phone and that money. It had originally been meant for the girl's 'necessities' such as food, clothes and credit for the phone, so getting Galloway to see the logic shouldn't be _too_ hard - but come on, it was Galloway: getting that man to see the logic behind something was like trying to read a book with your eyes shut.

Epps was in the cafeteria, sipping a cup of coffee, his rank beret lying next to the mug. Lennox strode up to him, deciding now was as good a time as any to set the proposition. "Robert." he sat next to the man, who promptly looked up and smiled in greeting. They only called each other by last names in the field.

"What's up man? Any problems?" He took another swig at his steaming mug before putting it down and turning to face Lennox.

Lennox nodded. "Minor one, but still kind of a problem; what if I told you that you'd have to go everywhere in the same clothes, for no real reason, for, say...six weeks?" It was longer than what Miss Bancroft had actually been here for, but that didn't matter right now. Lennox watched as Epps frowned, whether in thought, disgust or both he wasn't sure. After a minute he shook his head.

"Nah, I wouldn't do that man. I ain't _ever _doing that if I can help it, as a matter of fact. Why d'you ask?" He picked up the mug again as Lennox continued.

"Haven't you realized that Nora hasn't got clothes? I mean, she's got the ones my wife gave her, but apart from that...she can't be enjoying it." the Major saw the agreement in his friend's eyes before it was spoken and suppressed his satisfaction for the time being.

"Now you mention it you're right," he finished his drink, the cup still hot enough to steam even after emptying, "so what do we do? Just go to the store and buy her a bunch of stuff?" Lennox shook his head.

"She's a teenager, she won't wear 'em if she doesn't like 'em. You gotta go with her or something." Lennox added, the point of his visit finally out there. Epps once again shook his own head.

"I can't, I got that meeting tomorrow with Galloway, remember?" He fixed the beret back on his head as he prepared to leave. "It's too late in the day to spend it shopping too."

Lennox inwardly cursed; he'd forgotten Epps was needed for the meeting too. His Plan A was abruptly shot down. "It's alright, I'll uh...I'll get someone else, like uh..." Great, now he was struggling to come up with a single reliable soldier's name. One of the Autobots might do, but which one? Optimus Prime would surely be too busy, Ratchet would be a little too impatient to wait around for a teenage girl clothes shopping, Wheeljack - oh, so many reasons why he would be unsuitable...take the time Sam had to go buy some new shoes after his other ones were deemed 'too ratty and old' by his mom. Wheeljack had been the chosen guardian because Bee had been injured in the field, 'Jack had insisted on bringing some new invention that allowed Sam to go into the store on his own to 'ensure the boy doesn't get apprehended by humans who wish to do harm to him!' Safe to say, it was in the news that three hooded men had been found in the parking lot, singed and unconscious. No more Wheeljack escorts.

Lennox was brought out of his painful memory by Epps' suggestion. "What about that red guy, the one who saved her 'bout a week ago? They always hang out."

Lennox blinked. "Sideswipe? But then, his twin brother would have to go too...those two are hardly ever separated." Epps shrugged.

"Then bring the other too! What other choice have you got, Will?"

* * *

><p>Nora had been unable to find Epps or Lennox, but she had found Optimus. They'd met as the Prime was pulling into the hangar (where, admittedly, she was not supposed to be without an escort) in truck mode. Nora ran up to him but stayed a few feet back as the Autobot leader transformed. He came up <em>way <em>past the human's head, as usual, but knelt so that he was closer to her level. Nora grinned. "Hey, Optimus. What's up?"

The leader's gears whirred as the hydraulics in his long legs puffed. "Are you referring to the visible mass of liquid droplets made of water and various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of this planetary body?" He asked, glancing upwards though he couldn't actually see through the roof. Nora blinked. Apparently Optimus hadn't heard this saying before, though she almost had no idea what he'd just said; she just knew they were called clouds.

"Uh, no, I mean..." she sighed. "Usually when a human says 'what's up' in a normal conversation, it means, like...'how are you', or 'what's going on with you'. That kind of thing." Her grin returned as Optimus nodded in understanding. "Okay, so, allow me to repeat...hey Optimus, what's up?"

"Nothing that you must concern yourself with, Eleanora. I was just out on patrol of this city, that is all." Nora nodded.

"Cool, I guess. By the way, you can call me Nora if you want, it's just a shorter version of my full name. No one really calls me Eleanora any more."Optimus nodded once more. "Do you know when Miles will be back?" she caught herself almost immediately. "And Sam and Leo too of course." she added quickly, face warming in mild embarrassment. She stared at the Prime, hoping he couldn't have interpreted her stumble, but he merely went on like nothing had happened. Nora sighed in relief. Optimus hummed in thought.

"I am afraid I do not know exactly when they will be back, though it is about an hour's drive from here to the house of Mikaela Banes. They should all be back very soon." He told her. "Forgive me, for I must go. I must speak to our liaison about a subject of importance." He stood to his full height and walked off, the loud clangs of metal on concrete echoing round the hangar. As I say, Nora was not supposed to be in here alone, so when the looks of suspicion began to be thrown her way she left through the smaller human doors.

* * *

><p>Sam was not going to be able to take much more of this. For the whole ride back to base, it had gone on and on and on. Never-ending irritation, like nails on a blackboard. They had left his girlfriend's house a while ago and were nearing the base. Their seating in Bumblebee was now as follows: Sam and Mikaela in the front seats, Miles in the back left seat and Leo sprawled out on the right and middle seat. The irritation Sam was feeling came from one source; from Leo's subtle sexual passes at Mikaela (who kept throwing glares of I-will-kill-you Leo's way) and the from Leo's complaining about the seating plan.<p>

"Come on, mi amigo, let me sit in the front. That way you can chill with your friend Miles here, and I can get to know your lovely lady in front." Sam balled his fists to prevent himself from turning round and punching Leo as hard as he possibly could. Most of him wished he could let Leo sit here and then have Bee spurt green stuff into the weirdo's face - like how the Autobot had when the Pretender Alice had been trying to seduce him. But no, he knew Bee wouldn't do it. It had taken days to clean up afterwards. So instead he sat there and took it, glancing at Mikaela - who almost looked angrier than him - and mouthing 'I'm sorry' every so often. To give her credit, she had known Sam wasn't coming alone and rather than wear one of her usual tank tops or tight shirts she had worn a loose white shirt under a dark pink hooded top. Leo kept blabbering on. "So, Miss Mikaela, can you still hotwire cars? Because let me tell you, you can hotwire _my_ car any day." Before Mikaela could retort to this, a small yet significant piece inside Sam snapped and he twisted round as best as he could so that he could see Leo.

"That is the last time, asshole, you hear me? Last time. I hear you say anything like that again I'm gonna get Bee to stop this car and so help me I'll kick your ass. I'll do worse to your crotch than taze them. That is my girlfriend you are talking to, okay, not yours! Besides that she is a lady and you will treat her like one or I will turn you from a T-Rex into a T-Rachel!" He turned round again, listening to the sudden silence in the car. He glanced at Mikaela and smiled a little at the amused smile gracing her face. In the rearview mirror he could see Leo's scowl and Miles' face turning red from trying not to laugh out loud as he stared out the window. Bee's radio clicked on.

"**That was harsh, but oddly neccessary**."Sam nodded in agreement.

"How far, Bee? Are we nearly there?" Bee's radio came on once again. "**What the heck are you talking about, do you live under a rock?**" Sam blinked. "What do you mean what am I-" Miles coughed loudly and when Sam met his eyes in the mirror the former pointed out the windshield with an eyeroll. Sam looked and realized what he was subtly being called ignorant for. The base was feet away. Sam turned to Leo again (the poor guy actually flinched as Sam spoke to him). "Don't think I didn't hear you muttering. God, you're such a creep sometimes." Silence pervaded again. Until-

"Are we still watching that movie?" Dammit Leo...Sam facepalmed as Miles' loud, amused laughter escaped.

* * *

><p>Nora watched as Bumblebee walked past her, almost oblivious to him, until it hit her. "<em>Bee<em>!" she yelped, coming to an abrupt stop and running to catch up to the disappearing 'Bot before he eluded her. Said 'Bot stopped, turned and looked down before he transformed right there in the huge hallway. Nora was surprised. "Uh, Bee? What are you-" a hand landed on her back and she yelped as she turned. "_Jesus_!" she brought her hands up in defense only to see the same boy around her age, dressed in black and yellow, whom she'd seen a day or two previous. He was grinning at her, an amused look on his face. It took her a second to figure it out this time. "Damn it Bumblebee don't do that!" she sighed as she felt her quickened pulse slowly returning to normal as Bee laughed. What he did next kind of shocked her, yet pleasantly surprised her.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." That was Bee, there, in front of her. His voice, light and playful.

"Bee? How - I mean, I know you have a holoform, apparently everyone does - but how are you talking?" Bee shrugged.

"I just can like this. Our holoforms are the physical projection of a human, and so I suppose voices come with the deal." he was still grinning at her.

Nora nodded. "Oh. Okay. Well, don't answer this if you don't want to, but...do you miss talking? Do you like it like this?" she asked, inspecting his face for signs of offense or displeasure. She found none, so relaxed a little as he answered.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? Yeah, I do miss talking in Cybertronian mode, but not so much; talking through the radio has sort of become the norm for me, so actually talking is kind of foreign to me by now. Plus, the voice isn't my Cybertronian voice, mine is way deeper." He shrugged again and let the smile drop. "So did you need me for something? Are you alright?" Nora nodded and began twisting a piece of her hair - a habit for when she was nervous.

"Yeah, I'm dandy, I was just wondering if you knew where the guys were? And Mikaela obviously." The sudden look of mirth on Bee's face made her uneasy. He returned the grin to his face.

"Oh, yeah, I know where they are. They're in the Rec. Room, getting ready to watch a movie. For their, what did they call it...'movie night'." Before Nora could fit in a thank you and leave, he continued. "My guess is you're going to see Miles specifically?" His suspicions were confirmed when Nora's face flooded pink and she froze for a second before recovering. Nora, on the other hand, was wondering how he'd known.

"Uh, no. I mean, yes, I'm going to see them, but not specifically Miles or anything, just all of them. Like, uh, meet Mikaela." she was not doing well at hiding her 'fascination' for the blond boy. Bee was grinning and shaking with suppressed laughter as she glared at him. "What are you lookin' at me like that for? I don't see what's so funny at going to see people!" Bee had started chuckling by now; seeing Nora's discomfort he shook his head and sobered up a little.

"I'm not laughing at that, it's how badly you're hiding it! Sideswipe told me about how flustered you got earlier when you met them, and when Miles started speaking to you, you got all embarrassed and shy!" Nora looked down, suddenly hating herself for being a bad liar. Bee sighed and grabbed her shoulders. "Look, I have to go. Listen to me: I promise on my own spark I'm not gonna say anything to anyone, okay?" Nora grinned.

"Thanks Bee. Seriously, it's just that, y'know, growing up in an orphanage didn't give me any chance to grow...uh, grow, _crushes _on any boys." Bee nodded in understanding and smiled.

"It's cool, I get it." He assured her, "Just act on your crush soon if I were you, 'cuz even though I said _I _would be quiet, I can't say the same for the Twins." Nora's eyes widened as she knew he was probably right. Especially Sunstreaker. "They might try to give Miles hints about it. So see you later, Nora!" Bee beamed at her and fizzled out, soon going into bipedal mode and walking off with a little wave. Nora decided to find the boys and Mikaela before the Twins did. And soon, because it was getting kind of late. She took her phone out for the first time in a while and sighed. Already almost 9pm.

* * *

><p>Miles was beginning to wonder where that girl was, Nora. She seemed nice enough - as Leo liked to say often enough, though with more detail - and maybe, if she wanted, she could watch the movie with them. They were going all out on their movie-night; they had popcorn, takeaways from places like Taco Bell's, Jamba Juice and Burger King. There had to be something she liked. As Sam and Leo argued about what to watch (Miles didn't mind either way and neither did Mikaela) he set out the snacks as he thought. All he could think of were those eyes, and how they contrasted with her black hair...and her face just had a certain pleasant quality to it - in other words, to him she looked beautiful...<p>

"Um. Hey guys." Miles looked up immediately and Sam, Leo and Mikaela followed not long after. Nora was standing in the doorway, a grin on her face as she approached. "I heard you were down here and I thought I'd come meet Mikaela, like Sam suggested. Get it over with, y'know? Sooner than later." She watched the smile spread slowly over Leo's face and averted her eyes with a frown. That guy - Leonardo, was it? - still seemed as creepy as ever...Sam was getting up with Mikaela, they both seemed okay...and there was Miles, watching her. Normally, after the scare she'd had when she'd met Sideswipe about a week previous, she'd have been apprehensive of a male staring at her, but there was something about this one which put her at ease. She kept eye contact with him as he smiled to show friendliness, only looking away when Sam spoke to her.

"Hey, it's Nora right? Well, this is Mikaela Banes, my girlfriend, and uh, yeah. I'm sure you'll get along fine." Mikaela glanced at him at this, eyebrow raised, before smiling at Nora. She spoke to Nora in her smooth voice.

"It's great to meet you. Sam was telling me about you, how you're the Autobots' newly arrived human." She smiled again before gesturing behind her to where the other two watched the encounter. "You wanna join us? We do this fun little thing every so often where we gorge ourselves and watch movies all night."

Nora looked at Sam as though for approval and when he shrugged she nodded hesitantly before following them.

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><p>I will try to get the next chapter up sooner next time, I promise. I owe you guys so much for giving me support and encouragement, and I feel as though I let you down a little ;_; Thanks to lizziecats and AnswerTheCall for their unending support and for not giving up on me! Thanks so much to everyone really, I hope you enjoyed, and the next chapter will continue right after Nora joins the others with their movie. One thing; I might delete Me and My Life, because I don't know if anyone's actually liking it...let me know if you want it kept up. See you next chapter! :D<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

New chapter, yay! :D This chapter may include some Nora and Miles fluff because it's cute and damn funny, that's why! X3 And possibly the beginning of the explanation of why Sam seems to know her...but first, another nightmare scene! I'm an avid writer of horror, so...you have been warned D: So, without further ado, enjoy! (I don't own Transformers)

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><p>Darkness; all around her it shrouded everything in shadows; she was cold, and could feel not only her teeth chattering but the hairs on her arms standing up too. The blue veins of energon, foreign to her body, stood out to her but did not create light; When she looked down she discovered no ground, only her socked feet and more dark. Why, then, could she see herself and nothing else? The last thing she remembered was the movie with Leo, Sam, Mikaela and Miles...where were they? Carefully she turned slowly, heart pounding in her chest as she envisioned something standing behind her, waiting to see her face before it struck; with this in mind she wasn't too keen on facing whatever might have been there, but what other choice did she have? She finished the turn, the sound of blood rushing in her ears, and came face to face with-<p>

A pair of dark red, metallic eyes. Glaring at her through the darkness, it was all she could see - no body, just those eyes. Nora gasped and stumbled several steps backwards only to trip over something; looking back, unwilling to take her eyes off the unmoving red specks ahead, she looked down and her heart sunk to her stomach. It was not a mere obstacle she had tripped over, it was a body - to be precise, the body of her newly-met friend Miles Lancaster. Eyes open, staring unseeingly towards the hidden skies, blood trickling down from his busted upper lip and right there in the middle of his chest, Nora could only assume he had been stabbed.

Panic began to flow through her and she fell to her knees and reached out to him, blinking away the tears which threatened to hide him from her view. "Miles." she called, shaking him and suppressing a retch as his head flopped and the movement encouraged the line of blood to travel further, "Miles. Miles!" She clenched her eyes shut to rid the wetness - when they opened Miles was gone. Nora stood, confused. Once again she turned, fearing what she would see.

She had been right to fear. There, several feet ahead of her, lay another body. This time it was Sam's body, lying in much the same position as his friend had - spread-eagled, head to the side, stains of crimson marring his clothes and hair - and to her horror, he was not dead as Miles had been. "Sam...?" she tried to call to him, but her throat was dry and her voice cracked. No matter - the boy had heard it. His head swivelled round to look at her and when their eyes met, a sudden blinding pain split Nora's head and as she clutched it she could hear a muttering in her ears, like white noise through headphones. She looked up, but Sam too had gone missing. As had the eerie eyes. A growling sound caught her attention, like that of a hungry lion but deeper and more mechanical-sounding, and this time before she could turn a heavy weight knocked her to the ground as something sharp sunk deep into her back.

* * *

><p>Nora Bancroft sat up with a gasp, panting. Sweat poured down her head in mini rivulets and the back of her borrowed shirt was soaked in it. Dazed, confused and wary she gathered herself, looking around, taking in the surroundings. As she remembered where she was and why she was here, she calmed down only a little. Quiet snoring from her left alerted her and, with a pang of relief, she saw the one and only Miles Lancaster resting with his head against the huge armrest of the 'Bot couch, one arm hanging off and the other draped lightly across his lower abdomen. Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes were lying to her right, at the far end of the couch, with their arms and legs entangled with each other. Nora smiled, relieved they were okay, and the last one she noticed was Leo - who had, unsurprisingly, crept closer to her sometime in the night and now lay with one hand dangerously close to the girl's chest, on her stomach. Raising an eyebrow she considered breaking the hand to get the "back off" message across, but knew she couldn't do it. As annoying as she had already learned Leo could be, hurting him was not going to get her anywhere. Instead, she lifted it carefully and placed it lightly down on his own stomach, watching in some amusement as he merely snorted, turned over and returned to peaceful sleep.<p>

However as she looked back at Miles the feeling of dread returned, albeit watered down a little. After all, in that-that _nightmare_ she had witnessed she had seen two of her friends - Sam had been alive. Miles had been dead. Doubt hit her and now his light snoring had died down he could pass as deceased. Of course, she knew he wasn't but...she gently scooted nearer and reached out a hand, and to reassure the paranoid part of her brain she placed it softly on his chest, where his heart was. The steady beating she felt in her palm indeed calmed her, and she smiled. Nora's hand rose and fell with Miles' chest as he breathed, and the quiet whooshing noises of him inhaling and exhaling along with the rocking motion and his heartbeat were so peaceful. After several minutes of this she sat back, feeling much better than what she had been previously, and soon she lay down and drifted off back to sleep. Her dreams that time round were fine.

* * *

><p>She was lost again, for the love of God.<p>

She and the others had gradually awoken some time earlier, and at almost 12pm already she figured she'd better get moving. Excusing herself from Sam, Mikaela, Leo and Miles, she had gone to the human quarters to seek a shower; the warm jet was soothing on her sore muscles and hair had gone shiny and sleek, like the feathers of a raven; unable to buy herself a change of clothes until later she had taken a pair of N.E.S.T gym slacks and a plain white shirt. Unfortunately the slacks were too long so she'd had to roll the ankles up, but otherwise it would do - for now. After dressing, however, she had meant to return to the Rec. room - but had been unable to retrace her steps back to it. Muttering darkly in frustration to herself she had returned to the human quarters and tried again. This time she made it to the shooting range - the place she'd heard the elusive Ironhide was known to live.

What she saw in that room was amazing. There was Ironhide, cannons firing and body maneuvering in a way she didn't think these robots could, blasting and destroying many different shaped targets; at one point he managed to get one to fly across the room in a smoking heap of charred metal. Nora couldn't help but stare in awe, marveling at the mech's skills; at some point he had run out of targets and was forced to stop to set more up - which was when he revealed that he'd known the human girl was there all along. "Need something human?"

Nora blinked; how had he known? She hadn't made a noise. She had stayed by the door (both for safety reasons and to let the mech concentrate). "How did you know I was standing here?" she ventured further into the range, watching him. He rolled his shoulders to loosen them, allowing his weapons to cool down; he glanced at her and told her, "Known the whole time. Your footsteps, believe it or don't, I could hear them." He tapped one of his optics. The left one which, Nora had not noticed until now, sported a large, painful looking scar running from his forehead to his upper lip. "My sight's not so great in this one, so my hearing...better than ever..." he grunted, turning around to face her. Only now did Nora feel threatened, because now the full glare of Ironhide's height met her. The seemingly permanent glare and the way he held himself intimidated her. He kept talking to her. "Ratchet tells me something happened to you so that now you have energon in your systems. Show me."

Nora, a little startled by the sudden command, took a second or two to comprehend what Ironhide was asking of her. When she got it she slowly held her arms up, palms facing up, to show the bright blue veins lacing her skin. Ironhide knelt so he could see them. "These appeared after that whole thing with that guy, y'know, the what-you-call-it..." she tried to remember what she had been told. "The Decepticon, that's it. Aye, he kept spitting or something and some of it landed on me. Hurt like hell at the time, burned, and I did swear at him a little, but now I hardly notice them." Ironhide, seemingly impressed yet perturbed, peered at them curiously as she continued. "They do glow a bit, too. Like when it's dark my freaking arms are like little miniature lamps so if I want sleep I have to cover them all the time." Ironhide stood to his full height once more, the hydraulics in his legs hissing.

"Interesting," he remarked as Nora dropped her arms. "According to our medic we'll have to wait to see how those go...maybe it will lessen your excessive talking." Nora raised an eyebrow; she hadn't talked _that _much! "If you'll excuse me - not that you have a choice - I must be getting to my practicing. Farewell for now, Eleanora."

As Nora left the shooting range she thought about how she'd have to start telling people it was okay to call her Nora.

* * *

><p>After almost twenty minutes of wandering and refusing help from Autobots - blame it on her stubbornness - Nora had finally relocated the Rec. room where the others were all sprawled on the couch saw her and either waved or smiled at her as she climbed up with them. "What took you so long? I grew sad without your face to admire." Leo, ever the smooth. Nora felt irritation pulsing in her mind and she breathed in deeply to avoid turning round and smacking the boy. Instead, she smiled sweetly at him and retorted, "Well, look in the mirror next time that happens; I'm sure that sadness will turn to fear."<p>

Miles snorted and held his hand up to Nora in that same way he had when they'd met. This time, Nora knew what to do. Grinning at him she slapped his hand in a high-five and turned to Sam as he spoke. "Hey, we were planning on heading to the store for some stuff. You wanna come with? Bee's driving, and you'd have the opportunity to get some stuff of your own if you want." Nora tried to act like this meant nothing, but really she was thrilled. She'd never had money of her own to spend before, and really all she needed was some new clothes and some necessities, but either way she knew she was going to have fun. Smiling, she accepted his offer. "When do we leave?"

"Now, if you want," he told her, "The sooner the better. After we've got all our stuff-" here Sam grimaced, as though he suddenly tasted something sour. "-Bumblebee can drive Miles, Leo and Mikaela back here so I can visit my parents...you can come there, they'd want to meet you." Surprised, Nora nodded, happy that she was having such a day for once.

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><p>This had by far been the best day of Nora's life. The first thing she'd done when they'd gotten to the huge mall was go to the clothing aisles with Mikaela. She'd helped Nora choose many pairs of jeans, leggings, shoes, shirts, a jacket or two, socks and even a messenger bag for her stuff. When they brought the shopping cart to the cashier the look on the guy's face had been priceless; like he couldn't believe two woman would buy so much. After Nora had paid for it all using the money taken out of N.E.S.T's budget - which she was grateful for - they piled it into Bee and waited for the other three. Nora stared at the pile hesitantly.<p>

"Do you think I bought too much?" she asked, unsure. "I mean, I was supposed to buy some shirts and jeans, not half a shop." she looked to Mikaela. "Should we return some of it?" Mikaela shook her head immediately, a smile pulling at her lips.

"A girl can never have too many clothes." she said, "In fact, while we're here, why don't we go back in and buy you some makeup too? You'd suit it!" Although Mikaela was trying to be friendly, this notion did not appeal to Nora in the slightest. Makeup was not one of her hobbies; she had only ever worn it once, when the workers at the orphanage had wanted rid of her so badly they'd tried to make her look as dolled up as possible to increase the chances of adoption. It hadn't worked. Nothing had ever worked.

"I'm fine, thanks though. I don't wear makeup." And then the boys were there, walking towards them along the edge of the parking lot. Leo stared at the bags of clothing in amazement, while Miles simply glanced at it and continued his conversation with Sam. "Hi guys." Nora greeted as Mikaela waved.

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><p>Next stop was Sam's house. Sam seemed oddly nervous about it, and his only explanation was that his parents always reacted strongly - yet positively - when they met any new friends of Sam's. They were almost there now. As Sam had said, Leo, Miles and Mikaela had been dropped off at base and Bee was escorting them to the Witwicky residence. "Hey, Nora?" Sam glanced behind him as he - well, Bee really - drove, voice surprisingly calm considering how panicked he'd been earlier. "When you step into my house, we have two dogs, just a warning. We also have a protective mother who once threatened a government official with a bat for hurting Mojo, her chihuahua." Nora blinked. Wow. Maybe Sam had a right to worry... "So they'll be pretty excited to meet you. My parents, not the dogs I mean. Well, maybe both."<p>

Nora just nodded and continued staring out the window mindlessly, and within no time they were there. Bee pulled up to the curb and they got out (Sam managed to get himself tangled in the seatbelt, much to Bee and Nora's amusement) to be met with two people standing on the path in Sam's garden. The man, a stout, balding man, walked forwards to meet his his son while the woman, a redhead, had a smile slowly spreading across her face as she spotted Nora. Mrs Witwicky spoke first.

"Hey, Sam! Who's your pretty friend here?" Sam visibly cringed, turning to face his mother as his father rolled his eyes - evidently his wife making a fuss was a common occurence. "Hello dear!" Nora startled a little before looking at her.

"Uh, hi. Mrs Witwicky. I'm a friend of Sam's. And Leo's, and Miles, and Mikaela's...I'm Nora Bancroft, it's awesome to meet you." A flicker of recognition flashed across Mr Witwicky's face, but it was gone before anyone else saw it. He watched Nora for a few moments, something akin to sadness on his face, and as Mrs Witwicky ("Oh, call me Judy, dear.") led them into the house Nora spotted him shaking his head slightly a few times.

"So how did you meet Sam and his little friends?" Judy asked, sitting the family - and Nora, of course - down at the small table. They explained how Sideswipe had been on patrol, had seen Nora being cornered by a couple of drunk perverts, and - leaving out the part where he was human - had planned on taking her back to her home only to have Ratchet blow their cover. Judy's reaction when she found out Nora was an orphan was cringeworthy; she gasped dramatically and glanced from Sam to Ron repeatedly, frowning. "An orphan!" she cried, "How terrible! Oh, Sammy, Ron, she's an orphan!"

"We know, mom..." Sam muttered, sighing. "She's been an orphan for years."

"What? Why? Didn't anyone come to adopt you?" Judy looked at Nora, and when Nora explained that every potential foster parent had turned her down within minutes of meeting her, Judy actually teared up. "That is so mean! Honey, if we'd seen you we'd have taken you in a second." As she finished speaking something shifted in Nora so violently in that moment that her face burned and her eyes stung. Unbelievably, she was about to start crying for the first time in years, all because someone had shown her some compassion. Inhaling heavily she subtly tried to wipe at her face, but Sam noticed. Luckily he didn't say anything, just frowned worriedly at her. Judy was talking again. "Are you guys hungry? I'll make some stuff, get you some lemonade...Sam!" Sam jumped and spun round to stare at her like she'd grown a second head. "You can help, come on. Move your butt." as she bustled off Mr Witwicky sat down in front of her, momentarily startling her.

"Hey," he began. "Did you say your name was Bancroft?" sensing something was off, Nora nodded. Ron sighed and looked down into his lap for a second. "Oh my God, Nora. It's been _years_." Now Nora was simply confused. "You don't remember me do you? Or Sam? ...no, I guess you wouldn't, not after so long. Nora, girl, I was great friends with your dad." Another friend of her dad's. "Your grandparents lived here after you were born so every year you and your mom and dad would come over here to visit them, and on the way, us. When your family were busy they'd leave you here, to play with our Sam."

Nora's brain had gone numb. Deep down she knew Mr Witwicky couldn't be lying, and there was that connection she'd felt with Samuel when they'd met. Come to think of it, it made sense. Her grandparents would often discuss work with her mum and dad, and they deemed it too boring for one so young. So Sam was a childhood friend she didn't remember. Mr Witwicky looked her in the eyes. "Nora, last time I saw you, you were a very young child. Your parents were young, too. Too young to...pass away so early on in their lives."A final pat to the shoulder before he left to help his wife, and Nora was sitting at the table alone. What bothered her most was that she couldn't figure out why this bothered her so much. She decided to ignore it for now...and she'd think about it another time.

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><p>The drive back was quiet. Sam didn't say anything about her tearing up in there, though he did glance at her several times. Bee drove quickly, cutting off as much time as possible, and at some point he had turned on the radio to try and diffuse the awkwardness. Nora paid no heed to it; she was attempting to ask Sam about what his dad had said. After some time she turned. "Hey Sam?" he looked over immediately, glad she was starting to talk. "Your dad was talking to me and...I think, maybe, I should talk to you about what he said." Sam's smile of encouragement turned into a frown of confusion. He nodded, waiting for her to speak. "Well, he said...he told me we knew each other before. Did you know about this?"<p>

"No," he told her after a moment, "I can't remember anything about us ever knowing each other." he paused. "Did dad tell you how we knew?" he asked, figuring he might know if he knew this info. Nora repeated what Mr Witwicky had told her, and after a minute Sam sighed.

"My dad wouldn't make something like that up. I guess it must be true." the awkward silence returned, but not for long this time. "So...we were friends, huh?" he asked, "That explains how I thought I'd seen you before. Are we still good as friends?" he asked, turning to face her. Nora blinked, surprised, unsure of whether he was serious.

"Uh...yeah? I mean, why let it stop us? I kinda live with you guys at N.E.S.T, or the base or whatever, so it'd be weird having to walk past each other every day and not say hi." she smiled at him, seeing him agree. She frowned as a thought struck her. "One thing...it bothers me. That your family knew mine, I mean. And I don't know why."

"Maybe it's just 'cause we're sort of a part of your history now." Sam said, and it shocked Nora how much this made sense. "Even if you can't remember it, it's true." Nora smiled, staring at the world zoom past from the window. Maybe that _was _why it had bothered her, that really, she wasn't as alone in the world as she had thought. Maybe she'd just been upset that for all these years she'd had no one, but now...she could count on her friends, the Witwicky's, and Leo, Miles and Mikaela too. All that had bothered her, nothing but a wisp of a thought now. The rest of the drive was better, and she couldn't wait to get back to her friends. One more thing though... "Sam?" she said, still staring out the window. "Thanks."

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><p>My standards fell a little on this one, but I still think it's a pretty decent job! One thing I'll say before you go: remember those lines on Nora's arms? Unfortunately I've forgotten what I was going to do with those. My friend suggested I make her change, but I don't know what she means. Any suggestions as to what you think should happen withabout the energon lines would be appreciated, whether it be in PM or review is fine. Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

YO I'M BACK! :D It feels so great to update! To be free from exams and give back to all you awesome people! I'm so sorry for the wait. To make it up to you, I worked really hard on this chapter. I present to thee all my newest chapter! (warning: some swearing)

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><p>A week had passed since the trip to the Witwicky house, with everything pretty much the same; Leo continued perving on Nora, Miles was still a video-game loving geek (managing to pull Nora into them too eventually), the Autobots worked, drove and practiced. The only thing that had really changed was Sam being a little warmer towards his old childhood friend, finally knowing why he'd seemed to recognise her when they met.<p>

Oh, and Nora had irked Ironhide to the point of near-death.

She and Leo (who was now constantly tagging her around) innocently wandered into the shooting range - despite Jazz and Sunstreaker's warnings - and yelling "FOUR!" each time the 'Bot was about to fire at the moving targets; at first Leo found it hilarious, snorting at the flinches of broken concentration and irritated growls Ironhide released now and again. However, when Nora simultaneously yelled and cartwheeled in the way of a target, causing 'Hide to jerk his cannon away last minute to avoid hitting her, the boy wasn't so amused. Ironhide had, with a furious roar, turned on them and stomped after them, chasing them around the range as Leo shrieked and dove for cover.

Nora of course found it slightly freaky yet hilarious, knowing full-well that Ironhide wouldn't actually hurt her. "Come on Ironhide! What's wrong, rust creepin' up on ya?" She taunted, laughing as he yelled something obviously rude in Cybertronian. She glanced behind her at his furious face and finally escaped the range, sitting on the ground in hysterics as the door slid shut and silenced his roars.

"I have to do that more often..." She laughed, getting up and dusting herself off. After calming for a moment, the girl sighed and looked down at herself. The new outfit Mikaela had helped her pick out was perfectly suited to her style, simple 3/4 navy jeans, a patterned orange shirt and blue sneaks, but she felt bad about spending N.E.S.T's money. Even using the phone with all the 'Bots commlinks and Lennox's cell felt undeserved. And they'd bought so many clothes, so many outfits, she didn't feel like she needed so many...another sigh escaped her as she stood passively. Seconds later though, a grin split her face.

Today was the day Nora would visit Wheeljack's lab.

* * *

><p>"Hey has anyone seen Nora today?" Sam asked, looking at the time on his phone; just past 10am. "Leo went off with her somewhere earlier, but they didn't say where." Miles looked up from his handheld video-game.<p>

"You don't think Nora actually _likes _that creep do you?" He wondered, placing his game beside him on the 'Bot couch. "I mean, he's always perving on her. Not cool." Sam shrugged as Sunstreaker walked in. "Hey Sunny." Miles greeted, stretching as he stood and jumped to the ground below. "What's up? Where's Sides'?"

Sunstreaker glanced down at the humans and sat heavily on the couch. "He's comin'. He's just buffin' his doorwings. Again." He snorted, preening his own doorwings proudly. "Mine ain't even tarnished. I look awesome." After realising no one in the room was admiring his frame he huffed and noticed the missing stooge. "Where's the fragile human? Well, all of ya are fragile, but ya get the point..." He pretended to clutch his back in pain and put on a high pitched whine. "Oh, it hurts, it hurts!" He snorted and slouched over once more, seemingly not aware of the glares he was receiving.

Miles was the first to speak. "Hey dude. You could have really hurt her y'know? She could've like broken her spine or something, and it was your fault."

"It was an accident!" Sunstreaker snapped. "You know that word? I didn't do it on purpose!"

Sam's turn to defend. "Well yeah, accident, I totally get that. But you don't even care do you? Don't care that you actually hurt her. Making fun of her for being in pain-"

"To a Cybertronian that would have been nothin'." Sunny interrupted, glaring at the human boys. "A warrior would've been able to get up and walk that slag off! What use is she gonna be if she's beaten by a little back injury?" He sat back and crossed his arms, staring at the door, waiting for his twin. "You think I should feel sorry for my accident? If she hadn't come here in the first place there wouldn't have been no injury!"

"It was either your brother saved her or she was pretty much dead!" Miles said, becoming riled. "You think you're all perfect and awesome and etc, but your soul, or spark or whatever, is full of some nasty shit!"

Sunstreaker stood, anger in his optics, taking a step towards them, but the rec. room door slid open and a familiar silver mech walked in, immediately wary.

"What's goin' on? Why you all look like you're ready for a fight?" Jazz asked, stepping protectively between the humans and the angry yellow 'Bot. Instead of answering, Sunny stormed from the room, ignoring Jazz's calling.

"Man," he said, "What's got him mad this time?" He turned and looked down at the humans. Miles hoisted himself back up onto the couch as Sam sighed.

"He made fun of Nora's back. You know, when he knocked Sideswipe over and he dropped her." Sam said, "It was just...he was being a jerk."

Jazz shook his head sadly. "It may seem like he don't care sometimes, but I think he's feelin' worse for what he did than you'd think. He'll cool off later, always does, but for now I think you fellas should go find your friend. Last I saw her she was with Ironhide."

* * *

><p>"Remind me again why you've decided to come here?"<p>

"Uh...because I love science."

"Oh? Then you'd enjoy explaining to me what happens if you mix chloride with sulfuric acid?"

"..."

"Yes, that's what I thought." Wheeljack smiled in amusement. "Eleanora-"

"Call me Nora. Seriously, please, stop using Eleanora. It makes me sound old."

Wheeljack blinked for a second. "My...erm, apologies, I suppose. Anyway, Nora, I believe you were told not to come here. At least not without supervision."

"Yeeeaaah, but, what fun is that? I wanna see you do sciencey stuff." Nora grinned.

"Since when is creating a stickybomb which only detonates when applied to sentient metal as well as releasing liquid toxins into the air science?" Wheeljack raised an eyebrow. "My dear, if this bomb were to detonate with you in its' radius, it would not end well."

"But aren't you, like, an amazing scientist? There's a pretty low chance it'll explode right?" Nora wheedled, swinging her legs off the table she was perched on.

"...I suppose..." The 'Bot mumbled. "...Alright. You may stay. But if anything does happen, you are to tell Ratchet I had no idea you were in here. I have no wish to be attacked by an angry medic."

"Sure thang!" Nora laughed.

* * *

><p>There was no sign of Nora yet, and they'd looked almost everywhere. Sam sighed. "I'm calling her. I'll put it on loudspeaker." He dialled the number, put it on loudspeaker and waited. After a few seconds, the call picked up and Nora's voice rang out.<p>

"YO! What's up dudes?" Before either of the boys could speak she continued. "Oh, is Leo with you? He kinda wusses out in the Shooting Range, and I dunno whether he's fainted, or ran off, or what..."

Miles spoke up before she could go on. "We'll find Leo later, he's probably wandering around somewhere. Where are you? We haven't seen you since we got here." There was silence on the phone and Miles raised a brow. "Dude?"

"Right! Sorry, I uh, zoned out for a second. Yeah...so um, I'm with 'Jackie and-holy hell was that fire?" A muffled "nothing to worry about" came from the other side of the phone and Sam facepalmed. Miles looked vaguely alarmed. "You mean you're with him in the lab?"

"Duh." She laughed, "I'm fine guys! I've been in here for like an hour! Wheeljack is _awesome _and the stuff he makes is cool and-" a loud _clunk_ echoed through the phone and Sam looked up. "Oh, fantastic..." Nora muttered, then, louder and faster, "Listen guys I gotta go see you soon!" And then she hung up. Sam looked at Miles. Miles looked at Sam. They both booked it in the direction of the lab.

* * *

><p>"I knew you shouldn't have been in here! That thing's about to go and you're still here, this is terrible!" Wheeljack fretted, trying his best to disarm the thing as Nora watched the countdown. "Nora, please, leave. I can try to shut it down-"<p>

"What?" The girl interrupted indignantly. "No way! I chose to be here, if anything's gonna happen we'll both be in here!" Wheeljack didn't even have time to answer. The bomb clicked and a cloud of coloured liquid spurted into the air as the room spun around them.

* * *

><p>Nora's eyes were clenched shut. Her body felt sore, she could feel a headache beginning, and something warm was trickling down her cheek, but her arms were throbbing. Slowly, she opened her eyes and immediately her eyes widened. "Woah..." She coughed dust from a collapsed tool tray and watched her arms in amazement. The blue veins were pulsing brightly, and while the rest of her body was dirtied and torn, her arms were clean. Almost as though the rubble and dust had been deflected. Suddenly curious, Nora grasped a fist-sized piece of broke cement and held it over the other arm. As soon as she went to drop it, tendrils of energy shot from her fingers and reduced it to nothing but more rubble. Nora blinked and sat in silence. Then... "The fuck?!"<p>

Wheeljack sat up about ten feet from her, groaned, and shakily stood. "Nora!" He called, limping over. and missing the girl hastily directing her arms palms down. "Are you alright? The toxin, did you breathe it in? How many injuries do you have?!" He fell to his knees and demanded to see her perform actions to confirm she was okay - including turning her head, inhaling deeply, rolling her eyes and speaking clearly - until the door slammed open and a very angry looking medic stood there holding three teens in one hand, a wrench in the other.

As Ratchet began berating them, Miles noticed a change. "Woah, dude!" he exclaimed, grinning. "When did you dye your hair?" Nora froze. Slowly, while still doing her best to hide the glowing in her veins, she bowed her head and allowed her hair to fall in front of her face.

There, amongst the sea of black, was streaks of colour, presumably from the toxins. "...MY HAIR IS PINK?!"

Wheeljack raised a hand from his position on the floor in front of a now wrench-less Ratchet. "Technically it's fuchsia..." He groaned.

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><p>Woo! Hope you enjoyed! I know I did! Please review, they make my day, and see you next chapter!<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

Yo! New update, yay! I unfortunately don't have my own laptop yet, so I'm having to borrow my dad's iPad(which I am very grateful for). Don't worry though, soon I'll have one and the updates will come more often! Warning: This chapter contains a cuss word (just the one) and gets a wee bit graphic and a tad gory towards the end (it's not too bad, don't worry), just for those of you who might not like that kinda stuff. Enjoy!

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><p>Something was not right.<p>

Her eyes had opened, but she was blind.

Nora looked down, only to see more darkness. There was no sign of her hands, her feet, nothing. She could feel everything but, upon flexing her fingers and toes, found she could not at all see them; it was very unsettling, and Nora frowned. Wherever she was, it was cold, and she shivered. Her hair offered no protection to her neck. "Sam?" She called, "Leo? Miles?" She was greeted by the eerie silence which surrounded her. Suddenly, the feeling of déjà vu hit, soon followed by an intense feeling of apprehension - like she was being watched, stalked in the darkness. Slowly, she turned; she instantly wished she had not.

A glowing pair of crimson red orbs, like pools of fresh blood, glared at her from the gloom, much higher than her own blue eyes.

This, she realised, was a close repeat of her last horror-fuelled nightmare, only something was different...with a sharp intake of breath, she remembered seeing the lifeless bodies of Leo and Miles, the broken and bloodied image of Sam, and though she was reluctant to take her eyes from the threat ahead, she glanced around herself to make sure she was alone.

Which of course, she wasn't, not really. Nora was reminded of this by a sudden voice, high and raspy; "Filthy human. Disgusting." it spat, "Flesh, makes my energon boil. Only good for fun, for sport, to peel it from your bones!" Starscream hissed, optics narrowing to slits. Nora felt anger bubbling up, overriding the fear as she balled her fists. A deep, guttural growl came from the depths somewhere to the right of Starscream and he chuckled. "Perhaps I should allow Ravage to do just so..." A second pair of optics, the same deep red, bloomed below and to the right of the Decepticon's, just a head higher than Nora. She could hear him laughing, enjoying her fear, almost basking in it. Nora glared, stepping forward.

"Come out and face me, coward!" She yelled, "Or are you too afraid to face a 'filthy human'?" She heard Starscream snarl. "You just gonna make noises Decepticreep?"

"You would do well to hold your tongue!" He snapped. "I will not _tolerate_ your _insolence_ any longer! Ravage...fetch."

Oh shit.

The smaller set of optics grew closer, closer, and just as Nora turned to run, a large body of heavy metal brought her to the ground. Claws raked her skin and teeth sank into her shoulders, her arms, her back - explosions of pain everywhere, warm blood soaking her clothes even as they were ripped to shreds. Nora was forced to endure it.

Dark laughter echoed around them; it was everywhere, filling her head and chilling her bones, driving her to the edge and as she thrashed, trying to escape the beast atop her back. She was so wrapped up in her hell she almost didn't hear her name.

Barely audible, her name, called over and over, getting louder and louder with each second. Before Nora could even try to act on this, something ice cold and razor sharp pierced her back, burrowing down through flesh and muscle, and the pain grew white-hot as it plunged deeper.

"Nora! Nora, wake up! NORA!"

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><p>...That was intense. I hope you liked it though! It took me a while to get this just right, balance the level of horror perfectly so it wasn't too bad(I hope). Feel free to leave a review, they encourage me, and see you next chapter - and that one will be longer, I promise. Ciao!<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

Lookie, I've managed to update again! How awesome is that? Woo! Enjoy, and don't forget to visit my bio and click the link for my Facebook page for updates about what's going on with the story. Adios!

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><p>With a sharp gasp, Nora's eyes flew open. Her vision swam and she wasn't sure, for a minute, where she was. A face peered down at her and, instinctively, she yelled and lashed out; her fist connected with a sickening crack and someone cried out in aggravation as a sharp, pulsing pain lanced up her hand; she sat up and kicked out, catching him in the knees - as they buckled, a familiar voice yelled, "Nora, stop!"<p>

Sam? Nora shook her head, trying to focus; she was in her room in the soldier's barracks. Her chest ached, like someone had compressed her lungs; her throat felt raw and scratchy; her heart was in overdrive, thumping like the beat of a drum, and Sam was kneeling on the carpeted floor cupping his eye. Nora heaved a deep breath as everything focused and became clear to her again - Leo was staring at her in shock and concern, and although Sam appeared to be trying for the same look, there was clearly resentment on his face. "Nora, are you ok dude?"

"What happened?" Nora mumbled, wishing the swelling pain in her chest to stop. No sooner had she thought of it phantom claws ghosted down her spine and she shuddered, forcing herself not to dwell on it. From the corner of her eye she saw Leo back off slightly and she winced as her heart sank.

"I-I have no idea," Sam said. "You were screaming and crying out, and you wouldn't stop, like, moving." He shifted uncomfortably. "Thrashing and shaking, stuff like that." He shrugged awkwardly, sighing inaudibly and letting his hand leave his face and groaned in evident pain. Nora looked up and immediately cursed. A long, thin cut lay bleeding freely underneath Sam's bloodshot eye, where the skin had split. Ohhh, crap.

"Did I punch you?" Nora asked, already knowing the answer but dreading it anyway; she gave Leo a half-hearted glare at his little mutter of 'duh' before tossing the sweat soaked duvet away and standing, swaying slightly, and made her way over to her friend. "Let me see." She demanded. Sam shook his head and opened his mouth to reply but was too slow. "No! Just let me see if I have to go get Ratchet or something." A sheepish look crossed the boy's face suddenly and Nora narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

"Yeah well about that." He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "We already called him and-" At her sudden look of indignation he decided to add quickly, "We didn't know what the hell was happening! Something was wrong, it coulda been those mutations that 'Con gave you or something-" he stopped as, as if on cue, Ratchet's holoform burst in, followed closely by a harried-looking Miles. Nora inwardly groaned and glared at Sam and Leo. "You sent Miles to get him?!" Oh, that was just embarrassing.

Ratchet strode over as Nora sat on the end of the bed, kneeling in front of her. "Look at me," he demanded, searching her eyes. "What exactly happened?" He added roughly, silencing the boys before they could finish their quick aand muddled explanations as they all spoke at once. He wanted it from Nora, no second-hand accounts. He still had to refrain, however, from reprimanding her when she rolled her eyes at their concern. He waited.

"I had a nightmare." she said, feeling very childish; she remembered climbing into bed with her mother and father at night during thunderstorms, wedging herself between them and wriggling her way under the duvet, after experiencing a bad dream. "I woke up screaming and kicking, apparently, I woke up, hit Sam and ta-daa, here we are now." She grouches, trying to mask the guilty feeling settling in her stomach when she was remino ed of the blood she'd caused. Nora had never liked being fussed over; it was one of the reasons she had been hesitant to accept N.E.S.T's budget money and the phone as a "survival grant" until she got her own job. She wasn't used to people caring about her. "But I'm fine, just need a shower is all." And probably some ice for her continuously throbbing hand, but she kept that to herself. Ratchet hummed in thought, standing up straight a second later. "Shimmy your sleeves to your elbows, let me see those energies veins." He waited somewhat impatiently as Nora pushed her long sleeves up(she'd taken to wearing longer sleeves so that the glow wouldn't disturb her sleep). The bright veins glowed blue, as they had for the past month or so, nothing much having changed - not that he could see. In fact...

"You three-" Ratchet looked at Sam, Miles and Leo, "Out. _Now_." He added fiercely with a glare as they tried to protest. They soon left after that. "Now, please remove your shirt do that I may inspect any damage or spreadage of the 'infection'." Nora flushed Crimson, crossing her arms over her chest securely and glaring. The irked medical officer rolled his optics at her actions. "I gain absolutely no degree of elation or pleasure from what lies beneath a human girl's clothing, do not worry. This is only to help you." He had a point there, she supposed. Nora, still the colour of a cherry tomato, sighed and peeled her sweaty shirt off, glad the boys had been sent out like naughty children first. She had a feeling they would have spent this time with their eyes glued to her sizeable chest - regardless of whether a bra was covering her up. She saw the look of instantaneous shock cross Ratchet's face and looked down. Her eyes widened.

The energon Starscream had spat onto her began as no more than a trace, hardly any of it, flowing almost imperceptibly through her lower arms. Now, it had spread; glowing blue tendrils reached up, higher and higher, almost to her neck and curling around to reach just below her shoulders; her wrists were glowing too, the energon fading into her hands. It was like some kind of intricate web. Nora looked up. "You said-you said it would bleed itself out of my system!" She said. "This-" gesturing to the marks "-is not bleeding out!"

"Calm yourself!" Ratchet snapped. "Put your shirt back on and we'll examine you in my medbay. Cleanse yourself first if you must but hurry." With that he let his holoform fizzle out, presumably to prepare all the equipment he'd need. Nora didn't fancy putting a sweaty shirt back on so she merely opened the small two-doored shelved cupboard, grabbed one of the four thick white N.E.S.T towels (which every soldier's room was supplied with every week), a bright striped shirt and a pair of black jeans. She could return for socks and trainers later.

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><p>Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a review, and see you soon.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

Okay, here we are. It's been a long time coming, I apologise, but life has been catching up with me. I haven't had time or inspiration to update. Things will actually start happening soon, I swear. It's been a dry ride for a while now, but please stick with me, enjoy, let me know what you think.  
>Note: some people are confused as to what universetimeline/etc this is set in; it's not set in anything. Like a lot of fics, it's just a fic containing the characters and a plot, if that makes sense. I hope so. but feel free to correct me if I've said anything to contradict myself.

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><p>Ratchet, as it turned out, was nearly at a complete loss as to what was happening to Nora. When she had turned up in his medbay wearing only a V-necked t-shirt and a pair of jeans that stopped at the calves he had been able to see, again, a lot of the damage done to the human girl's body. She was still glowing faintly, the veiny lines on her arms and legs creeping slowly up her neck, sticking out as obviously as if she'd grown an extra limb. He had watched her come in, helped her up onto a berth (ignoring her insisting that she could get up onto an almost 10' tall table by herself) and set up the external scanners as she rolled her sleeves up and waited, kicking her legs off the side idly.<p>

"Do these scan things hurt?" she asked, staring at a spot on the white tiled floor. The constant glow from her arms hinted vaguely in the corners of her vision and she wasn't sure how to feel about all this yet. On the one hand, she had to admit she looked cooler than before, less ordinary, and whatever had shot out of the marks in her hands that day in Wheeljack's lab had saved her being crushed; on the other hand, she could no longer go out in public without raising questions and being stared at like an animal behind glass, whereas before she'd met any of her new friends everyone had always paid little to no attention to her. She sighed before suddenly it dawned on her Ratchet hadn't answered her and she looked up. "Uh...Ratchet?"

"Just a minute." he said, not looking up from the screen where he was setting up the scanner. Nora hesitated; was he telling her to wait or that there would be just a minute of pain? Eh, if it hurt it hurt. She doubted it anyway. She doubted Ratchet would keep using machinery that hurt just to _check _if someone was injured - not that she was injured, really, she couldn't feel any difference in her skin as before - she just wanted to know what was wrong with her. She tried to think of something to say to fill the silence but her mind was drawing a blank. The silence stretched on for another couple of minutes until finally Ratchet told the girl to keep still before switching the scanner on.

It felt...tingly, like her whole body was raising goosebumps; there wasn't a hint of pain, and Nora couldn't help herself as she sighed in relief. The process went on for about twenty seconds before the tingles disappeared quickly and Ratchet stared at the screen, humming quietly at the results. After what felt like hours the 'Bot looked up and then down at Nora, a frown settled on his face. "I do not know why the energon has effected you in the way it has," he said, seeming perturbed, "but what I do know is that it's spreading. You remember when you were first - let's say _drenched, _for want of a better word - in it, there was no trace of any of...this." he gestured to her arms. "All I can do is force it from your system, and there is no telling what kind of damage that may do to you. Purges are meant for Cybertronians, not fragile humans." he turned away to gaze at his scans again. Nora felt a little affronted at being called fragile, but then she remembered how badly the nightmares affected her and shuddered - he was kinda right, she supposed. She thought for a moment, contemplating something, before twisting herself round to look up at him.

"Hey, Ratchet...can I...ask you something?" she began uncertainly, struggling for the words. "For a while, I've been having these nightmares..." she felt so childish, having to explain this to him. Ratchet didn't reply, but inclined his head to show he was listening. "They've been about...about my parents, I guess. I mean, not just my parents, other stuff too-" she refused to tell him about the hellish one where she'd been attacked by that red-eyed _thing - _"-but they're all pretty bad. They're kind of messin' me up." she rubbed the back of her neck and avoided Ratchet's gaze as he finally turned to look at her again.

"Nightmares?" he said. "What else besides your deceased parents have you been envisioning?" Nora swallowed thickly as she tried to recall the most recent ones. "If you don't want to discuss them-"

"No," Nora interrupted, "it's a'right." she played with her fingers for a moment before taking a breath. "It's just stuff like...you guys, only you're all...not alive anymore." she didn't feel like saying the word out loud. "Sam, Leo, Miles-" she tried to ignore the way her stomach lurched as she saw, in her mind, the glassy unseeing eyes of her new friends staring at her, the dull glow of too many pairs of optics fading fast. "-all of you, I think. And it was just me, standing there, and I couldn't help any of you because you were all de-" she caught herself as her eyes stung and a lump rose in her throat. She pretended to be scratching the back of her neck so she could blink a couple of times and swallow again. Ratchet seemed to understand and didn't mention it, waiting patiently for her to continue. "I-I can't really remember a lot of the other ones," Nora avoided telling him about the other one - she didn't know why, but something in the corner of her mind was reluctant to share it at the moment. Instead she stood up, stretching her legs to relieve the tension from where her knees had been folded over the edge of the berth. Ratchet was still staring down at her, optics narrowed in thought.

"I'll run some more scans." he said at last. ""Try to figure out what is causing them. If it has anything to do with the energon burns I'm afraid it may take a while...but I'll let you know." with that he turned back to his work.  
>Nora waited a second longer in case he said anything more, but he stayed silent. "So is that it?" she asked, "I'm gonna go find the guys..." without waiting for a reply (not that she would've gotten one; Ratchet was still studying the multiple monitors intently) she rolled her sleeves down and leaped from the side of the berth, landed with only the slightest stumble and straightened up. Taking a last glance at the doc she reached into her pocket for her phone - only to realize she'd left it in the barracks. She sighed and began making her way outside for some air, needing a break from the almost stifling warmth of the medbay. After that maybe she'd go find them for real...<p>

She quite literally bumped into Lennox before she'd reached the exit leading to the hangars. She blinked at the chest of the camouflaged uniform and then took a step back to look up into the man's face. "Sorry about that," he said, taking a step back himself. "I was just looking for you, ran into Sam and he told me you were with Ratchet. Everything okay?" he studied her face, looking for any sign of distress or worse; there were shadows beginning to develop under her eyes and when she spoke she sounded tired.

"Hey," she greeted, subtly reaching up as though to scratch her neck and pulling her shirt collar a little higher to hide the marks; she wasn't sure who else should see them yet until Ratchet got back to her. "I was just looking for him too. Thought I'd hang with him until -" Lennox interrupted her.

"Sorry kid but I'm kind of in a hurry. I was just supposed to tell you the cafeteria's stocking non-meats now so you won't have to keep going out every time you want something." Nora frowned. Lennox raised an eyebrow. "Not the reaction I was expecting."

Nora gave a half shrug. "I mean, what can I say?" she said. "Why go through the bother for someone who shouldn't even be here in the first place?" she felt unease squirm in her stomach and tried to ignore it. "Sooner or later I'm gonna have to find somewhere else to live - somewhere that isn't a _military base_ that houses aliens," she paused. "Not that I don't like them or anything, I just-"

"Listen Nora - I don't really care how you ended up here or when you get out, all I care about is you not making my life hard by going out there and telling people about what lives in here." there was a sudden cold glint in the man's eyes and Nora involuntarily took a step back. "Our number one priority here is the safety of the public, and if you jeopardise that-"

"Woah, woah!" Nora cried, waving her hands to stop him. "I didn't say anything about tellin' anyone! All I said is I don't wanna be stuck here forever, especially since you and that other guy - Epps or whatever - already risked your asses by giving me money out of N.E.S.T's budget and a _phone_!" she gestured at the clothes she wore at the moment. "I got these and more with that money; if it wasn't for you I'd still be sitting in an orphanage, living like hell, wearing ratty old clothes and wishing I was dead!" she stopped and took a breath, missing the alarmed looks she was receiving from passing soldiers as well as Lennox himself. "Why in any kind of hell would I go about telling people about any of this after that?" she said quietly, the feeling of unease crawling back to the surface. Lennox shook his head and stared down at her, a look on his face that Nora couldn't place.

"I'm...sorry. You have no idea how hard this job can be sometimes, especially since..." he trailed off, hesitating. "I have a daughter of my own, and every time I go out into the thick of things I worry about whether she'll get to see her daddy again. And Sarah, my wife, how would she feel? My daughter might not even remember me, she's that young." he sighed. "Look, I know this sounds like it has nothing to do with you; all I'm saying is I can't imagine Annabel living like that and I wouldn't like anyone else to either, stranger or not. I know you were kind of pulled here without any consideration, but it's all about protocol. Galloway - my boss - is definitely not happy about it, but-" here he stopped and looked about himself before lowering his voice. "-that man can take a bullet in the ass for all I care..." he muttered, shaking his head once more. "Anyway, like I said I am in an incredible hurry now, so do what you have to and take it easy, 'kay kid?" he clapped her on the shoulder as he passed and Nora stood still for a moment, somewhat mixed between confused and grateful, before sighing and heading off back to her 'room' to retrieve her phone - and hopefully clothes that might help conceal her...'markings' for now. After that she'd find the guys...

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><p>I don't know how obvious it is, but my muse for this story has legged it and I can't find it. I found enough of it to get this together for you, so I hope it's enough until inspiration hits again. Let me know what you thought, thanks for reading.<p> 


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